Kokoro Uchiha
by Arte Of The Mirage
Summary: You would never guess that she has beast blood running through her veins. If you saw Kokoro, you would never guess that she's the last female member of the Uchiha Clan and that she has two older brothers, both of whom believe her to be dead. OCxOC
1. The calm before the storm

**I hope this chapter is okay, and not too crowded. I hope you like it! :)**  
><strong>Please review. Criticism is welcome.<strong>  
><strong>Thank you!<strong>

8 year old Sasuke Uchiha bit his lip and stared down at his Academy homework, studying a particularly hard question. He sat back, sighing as he moved, and thought about his day at the Academy.  
>Suddenly, he was jolted out of his reverie as a small hand touched his shoulder gently.<p>

"Sasuke Onii-chan," said Kokoro, Sasuke's 6 year old little sister. "What's this?"

Kokoro held a small matchbox in her hand .Sasuke glanced at it, and said in a distracted tone,

"It's a matchbox."

"What's a matchbox?" asked Kokoro, staring at Sasuke with onyx eyes that were so like his own. Kokoro was almost a mini Sasuke, with her black hair and onyx eyes and pale skin.

"A matchbox has sticks in it that make fire. If you strike the red end of the stick against the side of the box, it will make fire. Now go away and leave me alone. I'm doing my homework." Sasuke said, closing his eyes.

He heard the small pitter-patter of her feet on wood as she left the room.

'Hm,' thought Sasuke. 'Really I wonder how she got those matches. Matches are dan- ACK! Did I just teach her how to use matches!'

Sasuke sat up immediately and raced out of the room looking for Kokoro.

"Kokoro!" he yelled slamming open the doors as he searched for his sister. "Don't light those matches!"

He opened the sliding kitchen door and stared in horror at his sister. She had lit a match and was staring fascinated as the bright flame traveled towards her hand.

"No!" Sasuke yelled. "Drop the match!"

Kokoro looked up, startled. "Hm? Ow!" she said as she burnt her fingers and dropped the match. It immediately went out on the dirt floor and Sasuke quickly grabbed his sister's hand and dragged her towards the sink.

Sasuke twisted the knob, and the tap poured cold water over her fingers lecturing her about the danger of fire, and how she should never play with matches, and so on.  
>Kokoro struggled as her brother lectured her, and winced when he pressed ice to her fingers, pulling away sharply.<p>

"Onii-chan, it's ok, my fingers don't hurt anymore!"

Sasuke sweat dropped as she yelped when her fingers began to throb. Kokoro put her burnt fingers in her mouth and glared at Sasuke when he tried to remove them from her mouth.

"This helps!"

"Water is better!"

The two stood there, glaring, when their mom showed up.

"Hey, what're you two fighting about?"

The two rushed to explain.

"She burned-"  
>"He grabbed-"<br>"herself-"  
>"me-"<br>"I"

"QUIET!" yelled Mikoto (their mother) "I can hardly understand a word you're saying!"  
>After much explaining Mikoto sent them both up to bed right after dinner because:<br>1: Sasuke taught his sister how to use matches  
>2: Kokoro used the matches<p>

Itachi (Kokoro's older brother) and Fugaku (Kokoro's father) came home early that evening, and everyone ate at the table together, which was a rare treat for all of them.

Kokoro stared glumly at the food on her plate, which seemed to mainly consist of vegetables. Carefully and stealthily, she sneaked all the vegetables to the side of her plate. Kokoro looked around quietly, to see if anyone had noticed.

Father and Mother were talking about some sort of mission, and Sasuke was badgering Itachi to train with him later. Nobody was paying any attention to her.  
>Kokoro quickly dumped the vegetables off her plate and into her awaiting fingers. She hid her hand under the table and ate the rest of her food with her other hand.<br>She smiled furtively and glanced around. Nobody had noticed a thing!

Suddenly, Itachi stood up, taking his empty plate to the sink. As he passed Kokoro, he knelt down and whispered

"Eat those vegetables! They're good for you!"

Kokoro sweat dropped and put the veggies back on her plate.

Mikoto raised an eyebrow at Kokoro, who grumbled, "Onii-chan has such quick eyes! I was so careful!"

Sasuke smirked saying, "Ha!"

He was still sore that he had gotten in trouble as well, and was a little happy that she had gotten caught.

Kokoro scowled, and when Sasuke stood up to reach for more water, she quickly pulled his chair away. He fell to the floor, twisting so that his hand propped him up, the other hand holding up his glass of water. He frowned at Kokoro, when suddenly, his hand trembled, splashing water all over him. Sweet revenge!

Fugaku frowned at them, and told them to be quiet or leave the room, Mikoto hid a smile. Itachi smiled as well, and Fugaku relented, and allowed himself a small smile. Kokoro rolled on the floor with laughter, and Sasuke glared.

The next evening found Kokoro lying on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. She was bored. Sasuke was at the Academy, Dad and Itachi were working, and Mom was busy. She sighed and rolled over, looking around the room.  
>Suddenly she heard a loud thud from the next room.<p>

"Hm?" she said, and thought. 'Father and itachi should be back by now. Was that them?'

Kokoro jumped of the bed and padded out of the room.

"Mom?"

Kokoro looked around the hallway and proceeded to the sitting room where the sound had come from.  
>She peeked around the doorframe and saw a still figure lying on the floor. Father!<p>

Kokoro ran into the room, and saw her mother, standing in front of her father.

Mikoto saw Kokoro and screamed, "NO, Kokoro! Run awa-ungh!"

Mikoto collapsed, a kunai knife protruding from her back, blood pouring in long streams from the deep and fatal wound.

"Mother!" cried Kokoro, running to Izumi's still body. "Mother!"

She kneeled beside Mikoto and shook her softly, getting the blood on her hands and her clothes.  
>Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and poured down her cheeks and she realized her mother was dead.<p>

"Mother. Wake up. Mother." she said softly, her tiny body shaking with small, silent sobs.

Suddenly, somebody grabbed her by the back of her shirt and lifted her into the air.  
>Kokoro found herself looking into the eyes of Itachi, her oldest brother. His eyes were red, and had three points around the iris, which was small and black. Itachi was using the Sharingan. Why?<br>Kokoro, shocked out of her grief stared at her brother in horror as the cold truth slowly dawned on her.

Kokoro felt a cold wave of shock course through her body, and she stared at her brother mutely, eyes wide.

"You." The word slipped past her lips, and broke her trance.

"How could you?" her voice broke, and she twisted, scratching at him in rage and horror. "Have you gone crazy? Big brother!"

Itachi held her stiffly, looking at her, then he said, "Goodbye, little sister."

He reached into his pocket, removing a Kunai knife, with a small metallic click.  
>Kokoro stiffened at sound, her eyes widening in terror. No!<p>

The next thing Kokoro felt was a swift and unbearable pain in her stomach, and her body slamming into the ground.

Waves of pain coursed through Kokoro's body, and every breath was a gasp of pain. Tears pricked the corner of her eyes, and she stared up at Itachi, feeling the warmth and pain in her stomach, as her blood leaked slowly through the hands clasped over her stomach.

Itachi bent over her, and she said the worst thing possible to her brother. "I…hate…you..Itachi."

A flash of pain shot through her brothers face, but it was gone so quickly Kokoro thought she must have imagined it, especially after the words he spoke next. "If you hate me then kill me, litt- Kokoro."

Kokoro heard Sasuke's footsteps dully, and screamed, "Don't come – ah." Her words cut off she gasped softly, as Itachi silenced her suddenly, and she drifted into the blissful unfeeling of unconciousness.


	2. Sasuke's Worry

**I hope this chapter is okay, and not too crowded. I hope you like it! :)**  
><strong>Please review. Criticism is welcome.<strong>  
><strong>Thank you!<strong>

Kokoro felt a dull throbbing pain in her stomach. The first thing she felt was pain, as she regained consciousness, before she even opened her eyes.

It wasn't unbearably painful, it was just there, not hurting too much, but not letting her forget about it either.

Kokoro wondered why her stomach hurt. Had she eaten too much dessert last night?

She slowly opened her eyes and gazed around the room in astonishment. Where was she?

Her gaze traveled around the room. She was in a small room, with bare white walls. She was lying down in a small bed, with a large window to the right. On the right, there was also a small table with a vase with flowers in it.

She looked to the left, and was surprised to see Sasuke sitting there and staring at her with an anxious expression on his face.

"Onii-chan where am I?" she asked him softly, sitting up. She was surprised to find that it hurt to talk.

Sasuke's expression relaxed and slid back into his blank-emotionless face, and he answered , "You're in a hospital, Kokoro."

"A hospital? Onii-chan I just have a stomach ache. Why would I go to the hospital for a stomach ache?" Kokoro asked, puzzled. "Where's Mother?"

Sasuke's blank face hardened and he looked away, pain seeping out to be displayed on his face.

Kokoro gasped as she remembered. Mother, Father, they were both dead. And Itachi! Itachi, her beloved brother, had killed them!

Her eyes filled with tears, and she tried to hold them back, but they trickled out, one by one, until they finally poured out and she gave in to her grief.

She sobbed softly, crying for her Mother, her Father, crying from the pain of betrayal. Sasuke awkwardly put a hand around her shuddering shoulders, comforting her with his touch.

Outside the room, The Third Hokage looked inside, his heart heavy with grief for all those who had died, and the two now orphaned children. He shook his head sadly and spoke quietly to the Jonin standing beside him, "It is a sad world when children so young have to witness and bear such things."

The ninja nodded and said, "But at least they have each other."  
>"Yes.", the Hokage said, "At least they have each other."<p>

***

Sasuke looked at his little sister, curled up in a small ball under the covers. Kokoro had cried herself to sleep, and had red eyes, but she had a peaceful expression on her face.

Sasuke sighed in relief. He remembered his horror and fear when he had thought that Kokoro had died as well.

Flashback:

Sasuke stood in front of the Uchiha Compound, his face twisted with hardly contained grief. He had come here to check whether everything that had happened was real, and he had found out that it was.

He remembered seeing his parents collapse in front of him, blood streaming from their wounds, and a Kunai knife being plunged into Kokoro's stomach.

He remembered seeing his neighbors, and relatives being killed in the same ruthless way. He had felt as though he had actually witnessed it all, when he had only been inside Itachi's terrible jutsu.

Sasuke shook his head, trying to clear it from such thoughts, but they kept creeping back to him. His mother.

His father. His sister. His mother, all dead! Killed by Itachi. He felt a murderous hatred rise inside of him. He would kill Itachi! He would kill him for what he did.

Sasuke was startled out of his thoughts when he saw one of the nurses from the hospital running towards him, yelling his name.  
>"Sasuke! Sasuke!"<p>

She came to a stop in front of Sasuke, and kneeled over panting for breath.  
>"Huff, huff, pant huff."<p>

Sasuke waited for her to get her breath back.  
>"Whoo," said the nurse, wiping a hand across her forehead , "I have never run so fast and so hard in my life!"<p>

She straightened to glare at Sasuke.

"Give me a heart attack, will you? Disappearing like that. Come on we have to get back to the hospital."

The nurse turned around and walked in the direction to the hospital. Seeing that Sasuke wasn't following, the nurse turned around to look at Sasuke sternly. "Come on, don't you want to see your sister?

Sasuke stared, startled, shock pulling him out of his grief.

"Sister? My sister is…dead."

The nurse's look softened and she said, "Sweetheart, you don't know do you? Your sister is alive, but she's in critical condition. We don't know whether she'll live or die. The doctor is taking a look at her in room 20-"

Sasuke rushed off before the nurse could finish her sentence.

"-5." she completed, coughing in the cloud of dust left behind.

"This is not good for my asthma." the nurse said wearily, and began trudging back to the hospital.

Sasuke raced up the steps in the hospital and ran so fast he was almost flying ,racing to room 205.

He looked inside the room and saw his sister, pale and unconscious. She was alive! As he watched, a nurse went into the room, and wheeled her out . Sasuke ran up to the nurse and asked, "Is-is she alright?"

The nurse smiled at Sasuke.  
>"Yes, but she won't be moving much for awhile. She'll stay in the hospital until she's better."<p>

Sasuke let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

He suddenly thought of something, and asked, "Where are you taking her?"

"To her room. You can come along and sit next to her bed, if you want."

"Thank you."

Sasuke walked next to the nurse until they reached the room. He opened the door for her and followed anxiously behind.

As the nurse lifted Kokoro out of the rolling bed, Kokoro's shirt slid open, and Sasuke saw that Kokoro's whole stomach and chest was bound with tight bandages.

"Why?" said Sasuke, at loss for words. 'Why so much bandages? She- she was healed wasn't she?

The nurse noticed Sasuke's gaze and said softly, "Your sister was stabbed by a Kunai knife in the stomach. She lost a lot of blood, but the doctor was able to help her. The wound was deep, so she'll be bedridden for a couple of days, maybe even a week or two, to allow it to heal naturally."

Sasuke sat on a chair next to Kokoro's bed and stared at her blankly.

The nurse left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

Kokoro slowly opened her eyes, after what seemed like ages, and looked around the room.

End of Flashback

Sasuke leaned forward in his chair, carefully studying Kokoro's face. It was pale, but she was breathing normally and seemed ok.

Suddenly, Kokoro reached out in her sleep out and grabbed Sasuke's nose.

'Ack!' Sasuke screamed in mental agony, waving his arms about. After a couple of minutes of silent and careful removal of her hand, Sasuke was finally free. He sighed in relief, and sat back in he chair.

Just as quickly as before, Kokoro grabbed Sasuke's hand and hugged it to her small body, sending Sasuke crashing into the bed.

He tried to gently remove his hand from her grasp, but he heard her whimper softly, a small expression of unhappiness crossing her soft, childish face.

Sasuke sighed heavily, climbing into the bed, careful not to wake her. It wouldn't hurt to lie there for a little while, right?

The next morning, when the nurse walked into the room, she saw both of them sleeping on their sides, facing each other.

Kokoro was still clutching Sasuke's hand, a small expression of contentment on her face, her small, shoulder length black hair falling across her face. Sasuke mouth was partly open as he breathed softly , his hand hugging Kokoro to him, as though if he let her go, she would be lost forever.

At that moment, the two looked so peaceful ,it seemed as though everything was alright, as though their life hadn't just been shattered, and their world torn into a million pieces.


	3. Memories, And the new life

**Sorry for making this chapter too short. I'll try to make the next one longer! :)**  
><strong>Please review!<strong>  
><strong>It helps!<strong>  
><strong>Thank you! =)<strong>  
><strong>I'm sorry, Sasuke acts a little out of character with Kokoro. He sort of loosens up around her, I guess.<strong>

Kokoro opened her eyes sleepily, and found herself staring at Sasuke.

"Hm!" she grunted sleepily, blinking a few times.  
>She felt something warm in her hands, and was surprised to see that she was hugging Sasuke's hand.<p>

She got up gently, pushing Sasuke's other hand of her, which had been draped over her shoulders.

She winced when she moved too quickly, and looked down at her stomach. It was completely covered by bandages.

Hmm. The bandages felt itchy. Kokoro scratched her stomach uncomfortably and got of the bed.

Her stomach didn't hurt much anymore, so she grabbed the chair Sasuke had been sitting on and dragged it to the window.

She struggled to get up on the high seat, and finally got up, sitting on her knees and resting her head on her hands, staring out the window at the leaf village.

It was dawn and the sun was just beginning to rise, spreading a rosy, reddish pink light over the village.  
>Kokoro looked at the peaceful village, everyone still asleep, and sighed.<p>

Then she forced herself to think about her family and friends, everyone who had died.

She thought about her mother, Mikoto, who had loved her fiercely.

She thought of the way she would smile gently, and pull her and Sasuke apart when they were fighting. She remembered how Mikoto would stand in the doorway of her and Sasuke's room when she thought they were asleep, and remembered her gentleness and kind understanding.

Then she thought about her father, Fugaku, his rough attitude hiding the gentle loving man he was inside.  
>Kokoro smiled when she remembered one particular time when she had tripped and fallen, scraping her knee badly. He had picked her up gently and put her on his shoulders, wiping away her tears and directing her thoughts away from her injury.<p>

She thought about her neighbor, Izumi, who would give her and Sasuke sweets if they passed by.  
>Kokoro's breath caught in her throat, and she swallowed her tears forcefully.<p>

She remembered the grocer and his kind smile, the old lady across the street and her chocolate cookies.

She thought about everyone she had known, everyone who was dead, and thought about all their good points and their kindness.

And finally, she forced herself to think about Itachi. She thought about the old Itachi, the kind Itachi she had known her whole life, not the murderous monster whom he had transformed into , who had killed all those whom she had loved, leaving only Sasuke and her behind.

She thought about how, on rare occasions, he would smile at her antics, and how he would find time to train with her and Sasuke even when he was busy.

She thought about how kind he was, about how he would pick her up and swing her around in the air and tickle her.

She remembered how he would take her shopping with him, just the two of them, and talk to her like an equal, something many adults failed to do.  
>She closed her eyes and a small tear trickled out.<p>

Kokoro wiped it away hastily, and stood up quickly, vowing to protect Sasuke and care for him. He had been close to Itachi, and the betrayal would be hard on him.

Suddenly, pain clenched her stomach, and she cried out, bend over. Her cry awoke Sasuke, who was at her side in a second.

"Aaah!" Kokoro yelled, the pain overwhelming. She touched a hand to her stomach and was surprised to find that it was wet with blood. She coughed up blood, falling to the ground and curling up in a ball, the pain hurting her terribly.

She screamed in agony again and again, and she heard Sasuke calling for a nurse, and footsteps pounding on the floor.

"Idiot, why did you move, idiot, you are hurt!" Sasuke said, his face blank and stern, but his voice filled with worry.

'I'm not…an….idiot….you…idiot.' Kokoro thought weakly, before passing out.

Sasuke paced back and forth in front of the door which the doctor had taken Kokoro into.. Argh! Why did she have to move? Didn't she know she was hurt? Argh!

He stopped pacing for a second to stare at the door. Nothing happened, so he started pacing again, even faster this time.

'I should have watched her, I should have known she'd move!' Sasuke thought, pacing even faster still.

By the time a nurse opened the door, Sasuke was just a blur, and there was a long shallow hole in the floor.

"If you were trying to make a hole, you can stop now, you've succeeded." the nurse commented dryly.

Sasuke stopped and looked at the floor, looking rather ashamed.

"Your sister is alright, and is resting. The doctor said you can sit next to her again, as long as you make sure she doesn't move. Otherwise the wound will start bleeding again." the nurse smiled, and Sasuke walked inside casually, not wanting to let Kokoro know how worried he had been.

He sat down next to her bed. She was in the same room as before, and was lying in the bed, looking pale.

When Kokoro saw Sasuke, she frowned and said, "I am not a baka."

"Hm?" said Sasuke, startled out of his thoughts.

"You called me a baka before. I'm not a baka."

"Then what am I supposed to call someone who stupidly moves around even when she knows she's injured?" he said with his blank face.

He smirked inwardly as she yelled, "I am not stupid!"

He sat down next to her, quiet, and serious. Kokoro peeked at her brother, and said, "Onii-chan?"

"Hn?"

"Nothing. i just wanted to make sure you were there."

He glanced at her sorrowfully. "I'm here."

Kokoro looked at her brother, and suddenly held out a clenched fist to him.

"Onii-chan, I will become strong. You become strong too so we can avenge our clan's death!"

Sasuke smiled and raised his own fist and bopped it on hers.

"Yeah, baka."

"i am NOT a baka! Ow!"

"Don't move!"

"Who made me move in the first place!"

3 years later-

Kokoro whipped around ,her black hair framing her face as she sniffed at a pot rather tentatively. Sasuke stepped into the kitchen, wearing an apron and brandishing a cooking ladle. His eyes narrowed, and he batted at her with it.

"Out! Out! Do you remember last time when you completely ruined 1 hour of cooking by adding brown sugar to Chicken Soup, hmm?"

"It smelled too spicy!" Kokoro protested loudly, as she was pushed out of the kitchen rather roughly.  
>"I was helping! Plus I've gotten a lot better at cooking, so there!"<p>

Kokoro pouted angrily as she walked to her room.  
>She had become a little cuter during the past few years, but in her opinion, she resembled her brother too much.<p>

Her short black hair framed her pale face and black eyes. On her upper right arm she had a strange birthmark in the shape of a cat.  
>Her face had a determined look to it that made people realize that she was a very hard worker. She was the top of her class at the Academy, and Sasuke had taught her the Fireball jutsu.<p>

She had worked hard to surprise him, and just in a month she had learned it! He had congratulated her with his blank face that looked as though he didn't care, but Kokoro had been please just to earn the praise.

Kokoro stopped inside her room and looked around. It was a mess. Sasuke was always nagging her to clean it up, but she never did.

Kokoro plopped herself on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Sasuke was always nagging her about things. He was 'really' bossy for a 11 1/2 year old. Oh well. He was a good cook.

Before long, tantalizing smells began wafting from the kitchen. She got up and peered carefully around the hallway. Ah! Sasuke had gone to the bathroom!

She crept to the kitchen and carefully lifted the lid of the pot, and reached in to have a taste. Suddenly, there was a sharp rap on her knuckles and she dropped the lid with a loud 'clang!'.  
>Kokoro looked pleadingly up at the angry Sasuke.<p>

"Early lunch?"

Sasuke sighed and said, "Oh alright, you bottomless pit. Set the table."

The next morning, the two set out for the academy together. Sasuke looked down at Kokoro as she chatted amiably about how Mizuki sensei was teaching her class a new jutsu.

'She is so innocent. I will protect her!' he thought passionately.  
>Kokoro looked up at Sasuke.<p>

"Hey! Have you been listening to a word I've been saying?"

Sasuke smirked at her. "No. You're way too boring."

Kokoro growled angrily, and chased after Sasuke. When she caught him she started throwing punches at him. Sasuke dogged them easily, but one lucky punch caught him on the eye.

Ouch. Ok, not so innocent. Hmm, she looked nice there, hanging upside down from a tree, screaming her head off. Maybe he should leave her like that.

**Chapter End Notes:**  
>Onii-chan means big brother<br>Baka means idiot


	4. Fall of the Uchiha

**Notes:**  
><strong>I hope this chapter is long enough, and I hope you like it! :)<strong>  
><strong>Please review (I've been getting a lot of hits... But literally NO reviews)<strong>  
><strong>If you know any ChineseJapanese names I could use, please review them to me. I'm running out of names. *sheepish grin* :)**  
><strong>Arigatou! :) I have modified the end of this chapter, after Kokoro leaves for her trip. I thought that my previous ending of this chapter wasn't too good, and decided to change it. Names are still welcome! Thank you! :)<strong>

Kokoro sat up in her bed with a loud yell. She looked around. Where was she? Then she realized. She was back home, at the Uchiha compound!  
>A light went on in the hallway and the door opened.<br>Kokoro blinked.

"Mother? Father?" she asked tentatively, staring at her parents.  
>"You're…. you're alive?"<p>

"Yes dear, why would you think otherwise?" Mikoto smiled at her daughter.

Kokoro stared for along moment before jumping to her feet and flinging her arms around her parents.

"Mother! Father! I had a terrible dream, but it's not true, it was just a dream!"

Mikoto hugged her daughter and Fugaku patted her head softly.  
>Suddenly, Kokoro was in the living room, and she was seeing her parents death all over again.<p>

"It was not a dream, Kokoro." said Itachi, towering over their parents corpses. "It was real."

"NO!" Kokoro sobbed, "Mother! Father!"

All of a sudden, Sasuke burst into the room.

"Kokoro! Mother, Father!," he yelled.

It was as if Kokoro was watching everything in slow motion. Itachi turned around and lunged at Sasuke, while throwing a Kunai at him.

It caught Sasuke in his hand , and blood streamed from the wound.  
>Itachi drew a sword. He ran it through Sasuke, and Sasuke's eyes widened, and he spat blood. Itachi drew the sword out quickly, and blood poured from the wound as Sasuke collapsed.<p>

Kokoro screamed, a loud painful sound, full of hurt and agony.  
>Then she sobbed softly. Not Sasuke. Not Sasuke.<p>

Sasuke was awakened by Kokoro's scream and ran to her room, frightened of what he would find. He slid open the door and saw Kokoro tossing and turning in the bed, screaming. Then she stopped and started sobbing softly.

Sasuke ran to her bed and shook her urgently.  
>"Kokoro. Kokoro! Wake up! It's just a dream. It's just a dream."<p>

Kokoro opened her eyes to look at Sasuke. Suddenly she threw her arms around him and sobbed softly into his shoulder.  
>"You're not dead. You're not dead." she whispered, tears running down her face.<p>

"I'm not dead. I'm right here. I'll always be here for you. I promise." Sasuke said quietly, stroking her back with a very unusual show of empathy.

That night Sasuke slpet beisde his sister, just as he had long ago.

The next morning Kokoro came to the breakfast table with puffy, red eyes. She sat down and stared at her oatmeal, and poked at it glumly.

"I'm sorry, onii-chan. I woke you up." she said with an uncharacteristic quietness.

Sasuke glanced at her (worried at her uncharacteristically subdued behavior, but not showing it) and said (kindly, who knew?) , " Don't worry. I couldn't sleep, so sleeping with you helped. You didn't wake me up at all."

"Arigatou , onii-chan." Kokoro said, beginning to perk up again.  
>" Will you train with me after the Academy?"<p>

Sasuke made his mask-face and sighed, "Alright."

Kokoro got up and went to the door.

"Thanks again, onii-chan! You're the best! Except at cooking. There was a fly in my oatmeal."

She ducked, narrowly avoiding being skewered by a pot.

Kokoro and Sasuke glared at each other, knifes drawn, shoulders tense. Kokoro ran at Sasuke, throwing multiple kunai and shuriken at him.

He dodged, jumping into the air and landing behind her. She jumped up into the trees and hid behind a bush. Sasuke appeared next to her and she made hand signs, shouting, "Fireball jutsu!"

She blew fire at Sasuke, and he jumped away, landing on a nearby tree branch. She threw shuriken at him, and to her surprise, they found their target.

Suddenly, Sasuke popped loudly.  
>Kokoro felt something icy cold press against her neck.<p>

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" Kokoro said swearing.  
>" Cr*p. Oh alright Sasuke, you win. Now get that thing away from me."<p>

Sasuke put the kunai knife back in his pack, jumping down to the ground, landing lightly. Kokoro jumped down behind him, and bounced up to him.

"Let's get something to eat, I'm starving!" Kokoro practically yelled in his ear.

"Hn." said Sasuke, unfazed. He was used to it.

"By 'Hn' you mean 'Yes Kokoro, you may have three bowls of ramen with egg, and I'll pay?' Oh thank you Sasuke, you're so kind!"

Kokoro made as if to leap up into the trees, but Sasuke was too fast for her. He grabbed the back of her shirt, and the result was a gasping Kokoro lying on the forest floor massaging her neck.

"By 'Hn' I mean you're cooking." Sasuke said mercilessly, running off before she could get him.

"Hey!" Kokoro yelled, running in pursuit.

At their apartment, Kokoro began making dinner. Discreetly, she added extra chili powder to Sasuke's portion. Sasuke saw and smirked slyly. As she put the bowls on the table Sasuke asked for a glass of water.

As Kokoro went to get one, Sasuke quickly changed bowls, so the one with extra chili powder was on Kokoro's side. Kokoro put the water next to Sasuke's bowl and watched him eagerly, bringing a spoon of soup up to her own mouth as she did so. She swallowed, and immediately choked grabbing the glass of water and gulping it down.

Sasuke kept a straight face as he asked, "Kokoro, what's wrong?"

All he could make out as she shoveled ice down her mouth was, "hot" and "idiot Sasuke".

When she finally got the spicy taste out of her mouth, she sat down and stared at her soup woefully. Then she perked up and said, "Oh yeah, Tomorrow my class is going on a trip to a river, to see the tigers. We'll be gone overnight."

"The tigers?"

"Yeah. A mother tiger and her cubs were spotted near the river we're going to. Our teacher thought it would be a good exercise to get out of the village and learn a bit more about the geography around the village."

"Hn. You better pack."

"Yeah…"

Kokoro was quiet the next morning. It was the first time she was going to be away from Sasuke for a long amount of time. When they were about to leave for the Academy she handed something to Sasuke and rushed off yelling, "Bye, Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked at the thing she had given him. It was a small, round , jade green, locket, which, when opened, had Kokoro's picture in it. She was smiling cheerily, and holding her fingers up in a V fo victory. Behind her were the Hokage's face carved into the mountain side.

"Sheesh." he said, pocketing it. "It's not like I'll never see her again."

Only later did he realize how wrong he was.

Kokoro stood on the bridge and looked down at the rushing water. Next to her stood Mizuki sensei. He was lecturing them about something, but Kokoro and many of the other children were too busy looking for the tigers to hear him.

Kokoro scanned the river bank, looking for any sign of the life. As she watched, a small lizard scurried out from under a rock and ran to the bushes. A bird swooped down and grabbed the lizard taking it and flying off into the distance.  
>Kokoro sighed. The tigers were nowhere to be seen<p>

Soon, Mizuki sensei ordered everyone back to the inn. As the children trudged back, Kokoro planned to come back later that night.

Kokoro sneaked out soon after everyone was asleep. She tiptoed out the inn door and went leaping towards the river, her heart bursting with excitement. The tigers had been spotted at night, she might be able to see them!  
>Needless, to say, Kokoro was a very avid animal lover. Many times she had saved a stray animal from starvation or a broken leg by taking it in, to Sasuke's chastisement, and taking care of it.<p>

As Kokoro ran towards the river, leaping from tree to tree, she wondered at the freedom she felt. Sasuke would never let her out after dark, fro fear that something bad would happen ( and rightly so), so Kokoro had never experienced this feeling.

She could see the night sky stretched out above her, stars twinkling at her, and feel the cool breeze on her bare arms. She smelled the cool night air, and listened to the silence, broken only by the scurrying of wild animals.

Near the bridge, she slowed, and landed softly onto the ground. Looking around her, she searched for any sign of a tiger. Nothing.

Kokoro clenched her hand and walked to the other side of the bridge slowly, the boards creaking under her feet. On the other side, she saw something rustle in the bushes, and darted over to investigate. Tiger tracks! She carefully followed, hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature.

The tracks led away from the river, but suddenly turned, and were going parallel to it. Kokoro stealthily crept behind it, not seeing the tiger, but being able to hear it. As she went on, the trees thinned out and she could see a tiger cub. There was a cliff, and the tiger was standing at the edge of it. Beneath the cliff was the river, and if the club slipped it would fall in.

Kokoro saw the danger and ran towards the tiger. Suddenly she heard a swish, and turned, seeing a man standing in a tree, throwing a Kunai knife at the tiger. Kokoro grabbed the tiger before it could hit it, and stood, the cub in her arms, to glare at the man. He jumped down from the tree, walking towards Kokoro, smiling slyly.

"Hello, Kokoro. Quit the animal lover I see." he said, his face covered by the shadows.

"H-how do you know my name? And why were you throwing that at the cub?" Kokoro said, a little frightened. The tiger squirmed in her arms, but she was too scared too notice.

"You see, Kokoro, I know quit a lot about you and your brother. And frankly, you are coming in the way of my plans." the man stepped out of the shadows, revealing a pale face and long black hair. His tongue was unnaturally long, and rather freaky, and his eyes were snakelike. It was Orochimaru, even if Kokoro didn't know about.

Now Kokoro wasn't a 'little' frightened. She was terrified. She stared at the man, backing up to the edge of the cliff.

"What do you mean? How do you know about me and Sasuke Onii-chan?"

"I want your brother. And you must be terminated so he can come to me." Orochimaru said, his voice deadly.  
>Suddenly, Kokoro felt a sudden sharp pain in her left arm and was surprised to see a Kunai knife there. The cliff crumbled beneath her, and Kokoro fell into the water, the tiger cub along with her.<p>

Kokoro gasped as the cold water enveloped her body, as she was swept away by the current. She saw man standing there, a cruel smile on his face. She felt something struggling in her arms and finally remembered the tiger cub. She pulled it's head above the water, struggling to keep her own above as well. Suddenly, her head banged into a rock, and everything went dark.

Sasuke stared at Iruka sensei as he drawled on about the chakra in a ninja's body. He sighed and looked next to him where a boy ,whose hair was bound in a pony tail, was asleep. He looked on his other side where a timid girl with short hair sitting. Then Sasuke returned his gaze to the front of the room where there was some commotion. Iruka sensei was talking with a serious looking ninja. As Iruka sensei talked, he glanced at Sasuke more than once.  
>Sasuke, intrigued, sat up straighter.<p>

Iruka sensei suddenly called, "Sasuke, the Hokage would like to see you."

A surprised murmur went around the room as Sasuke stood up and walked over to Iruka sensei. What would the Hokage want with him?  
>Then, the ninja and Sasuke went of towards the Hokage's office.<p>

At the Hokage's office, Sasuke stood in front of the third Hokage, eyeing him apprehensively.

The Hokage looked back at Sasuke and then said in a gentle tone, but rather bluntly, "Sasuke, your sister is dead."

Sasuke stared at the Hokage, his brain not registering the words properly.

"W-what?" he said.

"Your sister sneaked out of bed at night, and went for a walk in the woods, to look for the tigers it seems. We do not know what happened, but it seemed that she fell of a cliff and into the river and drowned. We found this." The Hokage put a dripping piece of cloth on the table, that was unmistakably Kokoro's. It had her special button on it, the one she called her 'lucky button'. It was drenched through with what seemed like water and - blood?

"We think that your sister struck her head on a rock and was rendered unconscious. If she was unconcious then it is literally impossible for her to cloth is from her shirt. It is all we found of her. I'm sorry."

Sasuke stared without seeing at the cloth, his brain not working properly. He fell to the floor with a thump and stared at it.

The Hokage looked sorrowfully at the horrorstruck boy sitting there. He said softly, "You may leave. If we find anything we will contact you. You may skip class today."

Sasuke stood up quietly and left the room. He walked numbly back to the Academy, where he took his bag and left without saying a word to Iruka sensei.  
>The children stared curiously after him. 'What could make Sasuke act like that? And why didn't Iruka sensei do anything when he left right in front of him?'<p>

A girl raised her hand and asked, "Iruka sensei, what is wrong with Sasuke?"

Iruka sensei murmured, "His heart has shattered." distractedly. His voice was too low to be heard clearly.

The girl looked puzzled but didn't say anything else.

At the apartment, Sasuke sat limply on his bed .  
>'Kokoro. His beloved sister was-was dead! No! No.'<br>That was all he could think at the moment. Then he drew his hand into his pocket and removed the locket Kokoro had given him.

"I will avenge our clan for you. I will grow strong and kill Itachi. No matter what it takes. No matter what it takes." he whispered, tears pouring down his face as he stared at his sister's smiling face.

It had been taken only a week before, and as Sasuke stared at her picture, he felt an overwhelming sense of loss and sadness. She had been the only one he had had after everyone was murdered. Her cheerfulness, and mischievousness had helped him through. He had scolded her , but he loved her. She knew that he loved her. And she had loved him too.

Sasuke wiped his tears away, vowing mentally to kill Itachi no matter what it took. For his family. For his sister.

Then he broke down, sobbing for the loss of the one whom he had loved the most, crouching in a ball, his shoulders shuddering with heartbroken sobs.  
>That was the last time he cried. He never cried again.<p>

Far off, on a riverbank, there lay a young girl whose life could end at any moment. Sitting around her in a half circle sat five tigers.

"What do we do with her?" asked one tiger to another. "She saved my daughter's life."

The tiger sighed and said, "I don't know. The least we can do is save her life by using 'that' jutsu."

Another tiger gasped and said, "But then she'll become-"

"Half-tiger, yes. But we owe it to her."

As the tigers gathered around, one noticed the cat shaped birthmark on Kokoro's arm.

"How ironic," she murmured.

**Chapter End Notes:**  
>Arigatou means thanks<br>Wouldn't you cry, however emo you were, if your sibling had died?


	5. Ryu's Discovery

The sun was in the middle of the sky, a blazing hot circle warming everything around it. Birds chattered in the trees' and squirrels hopped from branch to branch, collecting nuts. A badger scuffled around at the roots of a tree, looking for something to eat. It scrambled away as it heard approaching footsteps. A boy of about fifteen or sixteen, with brown hair and pale skin, was picking his way through the forest, on his way to the river. He held a bucket in his hand, but had a weapons pouch and a leaf headband. The boy was grumbling about something as he walked along.

"Hmph! I'm in the middle of training and Gramps 'asks' me to get a bucket of water. And not from the well either! From the river! He says, "Ryu, would you be so kind as to get me a bucket of water from the river? That's a good boy." Really!"

He pushed a branch away from his face as he stepped out onto the riverbank. Ryu walked over to the edge of the river and dipped his bucket into the water, filling it to the top. As he got up to leave, he saw something intriguing at the edge of the river. He went over to investigate, and found, to his extreme astonishment , a girl and a tiger cub. The tiger cub seemed to be guarding the girl, because when he approached, it growled warningly. He looked at the girl. She was pale and had shoulder length black hair. Her clothes were tattered and worn, barely concealing her body. A large piece was torn away from her right arm, and he could see a strange mark on it. On her other arm she had a deep wound, from which blood was dripping. On her head was another wound, the crimson blood sliding down her face. She was shivering uncontrollably even though it was noon and sweltering hot. Ryu knew enough to know that the girl would die if left out much longer. She most likely had a high fever, and must have lost a lot of blood from the wounds on her arm and head. She might also have a concussion from the wound on her head. She needed attention immediately.  
>Ryu slowly approached the girl, keeping his eyes on the cub.<p>

"It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt your friend. She needs attention immediately, and my gramps can give her that."

The tiger seemed to relax, and yawned, giving Ryu a great view of her sharp and dangerous, if not large, teeth.

Ryu bent down and picked up the girl gently. His hand on her back felt that a few of the bones were broken, and fractured. Careful not to jolt the girl, he ran home, jumping from branch to branch. Below him he could see the tiger following him. In front of his house, he jumped down and went in through the front door. The tiger followed, and Ryu eyed her nervously. She seemed to know that he wasn't going to harm the girl, but what if she decided to sharpen her claws?  
>He called his Gramps loudly.<p>

"Gramps! Gramps! Get your medicine bag, I've got an injured girl here that needs immediate attention."

A small man shuffled out of a small room. He took one look at the girl and pointed towards the guest bedroom.

"Take her in there."

Ryu gently laid her on the bed and stepped back, studying her carefully. Her clothes were torn and she didn't seem to have anything on her that would help them find her family. She seemed to be about nine or ten years old, five or six years younger than him. Gramps walked quickly into the room, carrying a large bag and gesturing for Ryu to get out.

Then, he noticed the tiger curled up next to the bed and let out a small exclamation.

"What's that thing doing there?"

"She was guarding the girl. I assumed that she is the girls pet." Ryu answered from the doorway.

The old man waved him away, closing the door behind him, saying as he did so, "Get the water."

Ryu gritted his teeth and banged his head against the wall. Hrmm! Gramps!

Later, the old man came out of the room and washed his hands in the bucket.

"She is awakening. Go feed her and the animal." the old man ordered.

"Wha-but!" Ryu protested loudly. "Why me?"

"Oh, Ryu," the old man said, putting on a soulful look. "While your poor old Grandfather was trying his best to save a young girl's life, you were off throwing knifes at a tree. Can't you at least do this one small thing for me, this miniscule-"

"Oh, alright." Ryu said, cutting him off and getting a plate of fruit and chicken. He went into the room. The girl was indeed awake, sitting up in bed. Her old clothes had been discarded, and she was wearing some of Ryu's clothes. I wonder when Gramps took that, he wondered.  
>The shirt was short sleeved, and he could see that her whole left arm was bandaged, stopping just above her wrist. She had bandages also wrapped around her forehead.<br>The girl started when he entered, and stared at him with large onyx eyes.

"Hello." Ryu said softly. "My name is Ryu. I found you near the river, unconscious. How are you? What is your name?"

The girl looked puzzled and didn't say anything.

"Are you mute? Can you understand me?"

"No, I am 'not' mute," the girl answered suddenly and crossly. Then, her voice softening, she said, " I feel fine. But, I don't know who I am. I can't remember."

Ryu stared at the girl, his mouth open. Arhn! She didn't know who she was, she was crippled for at least a week, and Ryu had to take care of her!

The girl looked at Ryu and said dryly, "If you don't close your mouth, a fly is going to fly in. And what is a tiger cub doing in the room? Is she your pet?"

Ryu shook his head, and noticed that the girls canines were unusually sharp and long. He looked at the tiger and said, "It was guarding you, and it followed me here. I think its yours." He gave the plate to the girl and lay the chicken down in front of the tiger.

The tiger looked up and mrrowed softly. The girl's eyes widened slightly, but she didn't say anything.  
>Ryu looked towards the doorway, and saw his Gramps there.<p>

"Girl, meet Gramps. Gramps, meet girl."

The girl glared at him and said,, "I know I don't remember my name, but I'm not going to be called "girl"."

Gramps smiled at the girl and said, "What about Yumi?"

The girl thought for a moment, and then said, "Okay. Now leave the room."

Gramps and Ryu left, closing the door behind them. There was silence, broken only by the sounds of crunching, chewing, and swallowing, coming from both the girl and the tiger as they ate.

After Yumi was done eating, she put the plate aside and stared at the tiger.

"Who are you, why were you guarding me, and why did I understand you before? I distinctly heard you say 'I'm not an it, I'm a girl and my name is Luna.'"

The tiger looked up at the girl for a moment, contemplating, than said, " So the jutsu makes her able to talk with us, hmm."

"What jutsu? And I'm right in front of you, no need to talk like I'm not."

Luna jumped up onto the bed and settled into a comfortable position. She then said, "Listen to my story and you will understand."

"I was with my mother and brothers, and we were heading towards the gathering place, and I got lost. I had been chasing a hare, and I had been led far away from my mother. It was getting dark, and I heard sounds coming nearby. I followed the sounds to a cliff overlooking a river. Suddenly, a man threw a Kunai knife at me, and you jumped out and grabbed me before the knife could hit me. You and the man talked for a moment, and he kept on saying Kokoro. I assume that that is your name. Then, the man threw another Kunai knife, and this time it got you on the arm. You fell off the cliff, me in your arms, and landed in the water. Then your head hit a rock and you became unconscious."

"After you became unconscious, your arms went limp, but they were still holding me tight. Because of that, my head stayed above the water. Suddenly, the water became faster and more rough. Your body hit a log and I heard a loud crack, and series of smaller ones. Thinking fast, I grabbed the log with my teeth and paws, holding on for dear life. The river tossed us about and I was afraid that we might die. Then, after what seemed like ages, the river began to slow down and become more calm. The log latched onto a rock near shore, and I saw my mother and the Wise One. The Wise One is a very old tiger, and he is very wise, as his name suggests. They both looked surprised, and pulled us out of the river. Mother had just been talking to the Wise One about my disappearance, and asked of my whereabouts. I than told her the story thus far. The Wise One looked very thoughtful, and then he roared loudly. My uncle and my aunt came out from the bushes after a while, and the Wise One told them to examine you. The two both shook their heads and said that you would die. The Wise One suggested doing 'that' jutsu, and everyone gathered round and did it."

"What is 'that' jutsu?" asked Kokoro, interrupting.

Luna glared at Kokoro before continuing huffily. "'That' jutsu is a very rare jutsu. It is hardly used, and can only be done by our clan of tigers. It can only been used when the person the jutsu is being performed upon is near death. It has only been don twice before, and both times similar things happened. In a way, the human the jutsu is performed upon turns half-tiger."

Kokoro gasped but said nothing.

"The jutsu is performed by more than one tiger. The tigers gather around the human and pour some of their life energy into the human. The life energy transforms the human. For example, if you had a kekkei genkai, like the Hyuuga clan which has the byaku gan. The byaku gan allows the user to see the chakra points in ones body and target them. If 'that' jutsu was performed upon a byaku gan user, then that person's byaku gan would be, in a way, gone. The byaku gan user wouldn't be able to use the byaku gan, instead, the byaku gan would be replaced by a different, tiger like jutsu and ability. That ability allows the user to begin to resemble a tiger, and have the abilities of a tiger. Only, the user must learn how to harness his or her power, or during a battle the user might be overwhelmed by its tiger self and go berserk. Are you following me so far?"

Kokoro nodded and said, "So, in short, I am half-tiger and if I had any kekkei genkai it would be replaced by a strange tiger jutsu, which, if overwhelms the my body, will cause me to go berserk? Also, my real name is Kokoro."

Luna indicated her approval with a tilt of her head. "Yes. But there is more. To complete the jutsu, one tiger must share his or her blood with the person the jutsu is being performed upon. Thereafter, that tiger will be the person's companion for the rest of his or her life. The tiger and the person may be trained by another older and wiser tiger to harness their abilities. Since, as you have probably guessed by now, you and I have each other's blood in our body, we have a special bond, and we will be trained by the Wise One when you are fit."

Kokoro stared at the tiger, her brain not responding properly.

"Hmm, you are taking this better than I expected. Oh, and Ryu, you can come out now. Kokoro, that boy has been standing outside that door this whole time, listening to every word you say, since obviously, he can't understand a word I'm saying." Luna then proceeded to yawn, stretch, and curl up into a ball.  
>"You might be wondering why I'm so serious, even though I'm just a cub. Well, I'm more mature than most cubs my age. Good night."<p>

Kokoro stared blankly at the slumbering feline for a moment, before calling out, "Ryu!"

The boy opened the door and stood in the doorway, his tall frame blocking the light from outside.  
>"So you know I'm here, huh. I heard what you said, but I didn't understand a thing of what the cat said. All I could here from her were mrrowls. Care to clear things up for me? I already know part of it."<p>

He sat down on the edge of the bed, examining Kokoro intently. Kokoro examined him just as intently, then decided to trust him. After telling him everything she knew, she sat back, sighing.

Ryu sighed as well. "So all we learned from this is your name, that you are half tiger. Hunh. I guess you have to stay here for now. None of this is of any use, and we won't be able to find your family with just a name. oh well. Guess you're stuck with us, and we are stuck with you. Get some sleep, miss Kokoro."

He got up, patting Kokoro on the head fondly. He was already getting attached to her. Oh well. She was going to stay with them here on after, after all.

Kokoro smiled at the gesture, a sudden image of a dark eyed, black haired boy rising unbidden to her mind. She shook her head, wondering whether he had something to do with her past, and curled up into a ball, exhaustion taking her away to the land of dreams..

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!


	6. Life

Please review!

DISCLAIMER: Oh and I don't own Naruto or any of its characters...

The next morning Kokoro woke up early, and she lay in the bed thinking about everything that had gone on until now.

'I wonder who I was. Whom my family was. Was I the pampered daughter of a rich Daimyo, or the poor, child of a beggar? How were my parents? Did I have any siblings?'

As she pondered these thoughts, she looked at Luna, studying her glossy coat, her large padded feet , and her vicious talons, that could kill a small foal with a quick swipe. Even as she saw these predatory aspects of the regal feline, she thought of the tiger's intelligence, and maturity.

Then, she returned to her thoughts of her family.  
>'Hmm. It makes me feel a bit lonely, not knowing who my family is. But, I do not miss them because I do not know them. For all I remember, I could have been a slave of some sort. But, I think that is unlikely. I wonder who that man was? Why was he trying to kill me? '<p>

Then, Kokoro had a brilliant thought. 'Oh! Maybe I could ask Luna later if she could find the cliff again! Hmm, no, she was lost when she found it.'

***

After a while, Gramps came into the room holding a ridiculously large bag.

"Good morning Kokoro. How does your arm feel?"

Kokoro stretched her left arm, and winced as it hurt a little, but decided that she could live with the pain.

"It hurts a little when I stretch it, but only if I do that. I'll live. Arigatou for healing me, and thanks for taking me in. I suppose that you know of my ability, and the fact that I have amnesia? And also that I may be staying here for a very long time, possibly even years if I don't find my family?"

The tiny man waved what she said off, depositing the bag on the bed.  
>"Yes, yes. Since you are staying here, I will need you to-"<br>Here he paused, opening the bag to reveal that it was filled to the brim with freshly washed clothes.  
>"-fold these."<br>He quickly left the room, yelling "Thank you, o girl who will be living with us forever, and eating our food."

Kokoro sighed, staring at the clothes woefully. No wonder Ryu was always so exasperated by the small man. He used the power of 'guilt'.

***

As the days went by, Kokoro became more and more stronger. She spent the days folding clothes and doing other chores she could do from the bed. She would talk to Luna and Ryu often, and occasionally Gramps, who would teach her about medicine and different herbs.

When she spoke with Luna, she learned about tigers. Some of it was fascinating, and Kokoro could listen for hours together to that, but when it came to tiger history, it was a monotonous repeat of battle after battle, fought between rival clans. Even Luna agreed that that was boring, but Kokoro had to learn it al, since she was half tiger. Sometimes, Kokoro wished that the knowledge had come with the jutsu.

Kokoro always looked forward to her talks with Ryu. She had become extremely attached to him, and him to her. He would tell her stories about his teammates, and his missions. She learned that he was already a Jonin and that his teammates names were, Hana and Hiro. His leader was Kenji sensei.

Hana, she learned, was very smart and strong, but had a quick temper. Hiro was very cheerful, and loved to make jokes and get on Hana's nerves. Kenji sensei was jolly, but very strict when it came to training.

One talk with Ryu brought up the question of whether Kokoro was a ninja or not.

"I am a ninja." Kokoro answered immediately. "I remember strategies and techniques, and jutsus., that only ninja would know. I was a ninja in training."

Ryu thought about this information for a second and the said, "Then you will have to enrol into the Academy."

"The academy?"

"Yes, the Academy. As you know, our village is a small village of the leaf. We live too far away from the real Leaf village, about a two days brisk walk from here. To train our ninja, we have our own small Academy like The Leaf Village, where we can send our children. We have a head of the village here as well, who reports things to the main village's head, the Hokage. His name is Ayashi, and I have already told him of your presence, and how you arrived. I did not tell him of your abilities, but we need to meet him as soon as you recover. He will asses your abilities and will decide whether or not to let you into the Academy." said Ryu.

He reached into a bag next to him to pull an extremely bright pink and fluffy dress, decorated with a ridiculous amount of bows and ribbons.  
>"I have got you some clothing, as you probably do not like boys clothes."<p>

Kokoro stared at the dress, her mouth agape. After a few minutes, she managed to close her mouth and turned to Ryu saying, "It's alright. Boys' clothes are OK." as she thought, 'I have to recover quickly, if not for the sake of being able to move about freely, for the sake of being able to go shopping and protecting myself from extreme embarrassment.'

***

That night, Kokoro had a nightmare about her parents death, and woke Ryu and Gramps up with her blood-curdling scream. They rushed to her room to see Kokoro thrashing about in her bed yelling, "No! Mother, Father, no!"  
>She had tears running down her face, and Ryu rushed to her side, and hugged her softly.<br>"It's alright, Kokoro, It's alright."

She calmed down, and muttered something softly. Ryu lad her back down softly, covering her in a blanket. As he did so, he remembered doing that same thing a few years ago to another girl, and a flash of unbearable pain crossed his face, leaving as quickly as it came.

The next morning Kokoro had completely forgotten about the nightmare, which, Ryu and Gramps suspected, was a part of her past. They both wondered at the pain on the girls face, and her scream, and thought whether it was really such a good thing for her to remember her past which was undoubtedly painful, whether it was a blessing for her to forget.

The next few days went by quickly, and then Ryu left on a team mission. Time seemed to slow down for Kokoro who missed him, except for one particular night when Luna almost gave Gramps a heart attack by bringing in a dead and bloody rabbit, and leaving tracks all along the house. Two days after Ryu's departure, Kokoro, who was now able to walk slowly, was weeding the garden with Gramps. As she weeded she asked Gramps a question that had been bothering Kokoro for a while.

"Gramps, I don't mean to be nosy, but what happened to Ryu's parents? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Gramps yanked out a particular stubborn weed, and started talking softly. "Ryu had a little sister, who would be about your age now. She was a cripple, her legs were lame, but Ryu loved her more than anything in the world. One night, their house caught fire, and burned down, killing all those inside. Ryu's parents and his sister. Ryu had been out that night, and when he came back and found the house ruined, and his family dead, he almost went mad with grief. I took him in and took care of him, and gradually he recovered. This happened three years ago."

Kokoro was saddened, but she had suspected as much.

***

Kokoro woke up a day later to find Ryu sitting on a chair next to her bed.  
>"About time you woke up, lazybones." he grinned.<p>

Kokoro's only answer was to leap out of bed and to hug him.

"Aaah, let go! You're choking me!"

After breakfast, Kokoro announced that she was well enough to visit Ayashi tomorrow.

"But first, I need proper clothing. We'll go shopping today."

'Bossy, isn't she.' thought Ryu, looking Kokoro over. This was the first time he had seen her up.  
>She was wearing his shirt, which was clearly too large for her, and some of his shorts, which were almost pants for her. She seemed sturdy and strong, even though she looked skinny. Her hair was shoulder length, and black, and her eyes twinkled with something he hadn't seen before. Life? Mischievousness? It seemed to be the latter of the two, and Ryu decided to keep his guard up.<p>

***

Kokoro stared open mouthed at the sights all around her. They had gone down the hill from Gramps' house and had arrived at the village. It seemed enormous to her. Stalls lined the streets, and hawkers yelled their prices loudly. As they were about to go into a store, someone made as if to snatch the purse Ryu had given her, so that she could spend it on clothes and any other things she might need. Kokoro grabbed the man's hand, pulled him forward, and let go, the momentum carrying him into a wall. He slid to the floor dazed, and Kokoro grabbed the front of the man's shirt with a burst of strength, and growled angrily into his face, "'Never steal. Honest work is better." and flung him aside.

Ryu smiled impressed, and walked into the store with Kokoro. Big mistake. Feminine things hung everywhere, and his mind reeled as he saw some things he wished he hadn't.

"I'll wait for you outside." he croaked weakly to Kokoro, and literally dashed outside. Kokoro smiled, shaking her head, and walked around the store, looking for things that might suit her. After taking some underclothes, she wandered over to the shirts section. There were a lot of frilly things that Kokoro didn't want and she frowned. Then she saw something perfect, and grabbed it along with some other clothes she chose.  
>She went over to the cashier and paid for her clothes. The lady saw what she was currently wearing and frowned.<br>"Sweetheart, there's a changing room over there. You can change into the clothes you just brought over there, if you like."

Kokoro looked wryly at the clothes she was wearing and said, "I'll take you up on that offer."

***

Ryu checked a clock anxiously. Where 'was' Kokoro? It had been 15 minutes since she had gone in. Wasn't she done yet?

"Ryu! Hey, Ryu!" yelled an extremely loud boy behind him. He had short, messy, black hair that stuck out in all directions, and was wearing a Leaf headband. He was wearing casual clothing, a shirt and some pants, and was grinning and waving wildly. He looked to be about 15 years old, the same age as the girl walking next to him. She had long, shiny, red hair that was loose, and extremely pretty green eyes. She wore long, loose pants, and a short sleeved shirt. Both of her hands were bandaged till the wrist, and she was punching the boy irritably.

"Don't be so loud, you moron!", Hana hissed, punching the boy. "Hi Ryu. What're you doing standing outside a girls clothing shop?"

"Oooh, Ryu you-"

This time Ryu punched Hiro, blushing furiously.

"Shut up! I'm waiting for Kokoro."

"Kokoro?" asked Hana quizzically, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"Kokoro is a 9 year old girl I found on the riverbank. She's forgotten her memory, and has a pet tiger. She is staying with Gramps and me. She had a fever and broken ribs, and several other wounds when I found her, so she was bedridden for a while. She just got better, and is going to meet Ayashi tomorrow. Until now she was wearing my clothes, and she has come to shop for clothes. I got her this-"  
>And at that Ryu reached into a bag and removed the hideous dress<br>"-but she said she preferred boys clothes. I wonder why. I thought girls liked this kind of stuff."

Hana and Hiro grimaced when they saw the dress.

"I think I know why." Hana muttered, forcing the dress back into the bag.

At that moment, Kokoro stepped out wearing her new clothes and carrying a shopping bag. She hopped over to Ryu and grinned up at him.

"The clerk said that I could change in the store! Wasn't that nice of her? How do I look?"

Ryu only stared. She looked completely different. Her hair was held back from her face on one side with a simple black clip. She had a black shirt which was long sleeved on the left side, and short sleeved on the right. Her right arm was bandaged until the wrist, and she wore long, black pants. Strapped to her right leg was a weapons pouch, and by the looks of it, it was full.

Kokoro chattered on, not noticing Ryu's silence or his friends.  
>" These are my ninja clothes! I also got a weapons pouch and its full! I can't wait for tomorrow! I'll pass the test with flying colours! Do you think Luna will like my clothes? I'll ask her." Then she noticed the two, and said, "Oh! Are you Hana and Hiro? Ryu's told me all about you! Do you really have a short temper, Hana? ….Oops."<p>

Hana turned to Ryu, her eye twitching. "What?" she said in a low and dangerous voice, walking forward slowly.

As Ryu protested his innocence loudly, Hiro leaned in towards Kokoro. "Yep, she really has a fierce temper."  
>After poor Ryu was able to convince Hana of his innocence, they all walked through the streets, Kokoro darting to stall after stall ooing and aahing over the goods. Ryu had to temporarily confisticate her purse when she wanted a ridiculously high priced lantern.<p>

As Kokoro looked over some rings in a store, Hana, Ryu, and Hiro talked.

"Do you think she'll pass?" Hana asked Ryu.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her fight, except for once, today. She threw a pick pocketer into a wall, picked him up, threatened him, and threw him to the ground without breaking a sweat. I was impressed."

"Hmm," said Hiro, serious for once. " I think she'll pass. Did you see the clothes she chose? Tough material so it won't tear and dark, so she can camouflage easily. Very good."

"All we can do is wait until tomorrow and find out." said Ryu, watching Kokoro run over to him, her face beaming with excitement.


	7. The Test

**I just thought of this.  
>What would you do if someone you loved and completely trusted, killed everyone in your family, and all your friends, and then told you to come kill him? And then you met that person, but were too weak to kill him? And then your friend, who's a total knuckle head, becomes stronger than you?<br>...I'm surprised Sasuke didn't go mad.  
>Please review.<strong>

The next morning Kokoro woke up early and decided to take a bath. She stepped into the shower, and let the warm water wash the dirt off her body. She got out and wore her clothes, then wandered about, looking for Luna.  
>She spotted Luna outside and ran to her. "Luna! Look, I got these clothes yesterday. Do you like them?"<p>

Luna opened one eye lazily, looked Kokoro over, and said, "It is alright. Is the test with Ayashi today?"

"Yes. Are you coming to watch?"

"Yep. Oh yeah, I met the Wise One last night. He said that you are to meet him in two days time. Now don't bother me until it's time to leave."

Luna rolled over, exposing her soft, white belly fur. Kokoro itched to touch it, her hand reaching out over her belly, when, without opening her eyes, Luna growled, "Don't even think about it."

Kokoro went to a small clearing nearby, and began doing some exercises. After all, she had been bedridden for more than one week. She had to practice. She picked a nice, sturdy looking tree, and began practising her punches and kicks. After a while, Kokoro stopped. It was time to eat.

Kokoro sighed and went back inside to prepare breakfast. When she was almost done, Ryu wandered into the kitchen, drawn in by the tasty smells. Gramps woke up as well, and they all had breakfast. Ryu got up, picking up his plate and taking it to the sink.

"Ayashi told us to meet him at the training grounds. Let's go." he said.

"Yeah!" shouted Kokoro, leaping out of her chair and knocking it over.

Luna and Ryu both sighed at the same time.

Ayashi stood at the training grounds, waiting for Ryu and Kokoro. He looked at the boy standing next to him, and patted his head.

"Thanks, Shun, for doing this."

"Hn." the boy said.

Ayashi was a strong, sturdy man. He had broad shoulders, and his black hair was lined with gray. His eyes were a dark, chocolate brown, and he looked like someone who was always ready with a smile.

Ayashi noticed two people and a what looked like a giant cat coming their way. He sized up the girl. She looked strong, and walked confidently. Actually, she wasn't walking, she seemed to be bouncing, and talking with Ryu at top speed. Poor Ryu looked a bit tired.

Suddenly, he noticed her canines. They seemed to be unusually sharp and long…

Ayashi turned to Shun and said, "Never judge a book by its cover, I know, but I think you'll be able to beat her easily."

Shun looked up at his father, his startling blueish grey eyes studying the man.

"Maybe, Father."

Shun had white hair that reached his shoulders, and just by looking at him you could see immediately that he was a very good fighter, and also intelligent. Shun watched as the girl and the older boy, and what appeared to be a tiger cub ,stop in front of him.

Ayashi smiled at Ryu and Kokoro, and said, "Good morning! This is my son, Shun, and he will be helping me test you, Kokoro. He is about your age, and if you get into the Academy he will be in your class."

Kokoro immediately stopped bouncing about, and studied Shun with quick calculating eyes. Shun was taken aback- he hadn't expected her to be like that.

Kokoro studied the boy in front of her. He seemed to be a good fighter, and intelligent. She smiled and said, "It will be a pleasure to fight such a honourable ninja as you obviously are. I presume that we are going to fight, aren't we?"

Ayashi smiled ,thinking that she was more intelligent than she seemed, and said, "Yes, you are. I will watch you fight and deem whether you can get into the Academy. If you are ready, let's begin."

Kokoro nodded, and went into the middle of the clearing, sliding into defensive mode. Shun followed and did the same.

"Begin!" Ayashi barked. Ryu and Luna stood next to him, watching, interested.

Kokoro sprang at Shun, aiming a punch for his face. He dodged, doing a back flip, and then rushed forward, removing a Kunai knife. Kokoro removed one as well, and blocked his thrust. They stayed like that for a moment, leaning into each other, gritting their teeth. Then they sprang back, and faced each other, panting.  
>Shun narrowed his eyes, and rushed forward . Kokoro leaped up into the air, throwing a few shuriken at him. Shun was too slow, and they struck him in the chest. He gasped, sliding back a few feet, and then turned into a log. Kokoro's eyes widened and she turned around, but it was too late. Shun appeared behind her, punching her full in the face. Kokoro landed heavily on the ground, wiping blood from her mouth.<p>

Kokoro studied Shun for a moment. 'Hmm, he is strong, and is able to use the Substitution jutsu. I remember learning that jutsu as well as the Transformation jutsu. Since he is the same age as me, I will have to presume that he knows that jutsu as well. He and I seem to be equally matched, in strength and skill. I have to devise a strategy to beat him.'

Kokoro smiled, the beginnings of a plan formulating in her head. She rushed Shun again. He slid into a defensive position, and blocked her punches and kicks. Then, he saw an opening an punched her in the stomach. She turned into a log, and he looked around , searching for her. Suddenly, the log poofed into Kokoro, and she leaped at him, kicking him in the stomach, and black flipping to land right in front of him. She jumped forward once more, and was able to land a punch on his face before he leapt away.

Shun was impressed. The girl had let herself get punched, and then transformed into a log to make him think that it was a Substitution jutsu. Then, when he was not looking, she transformed back and kicked him, and also managed to land another punch when he was still in shock.

Ayashi and Ryu were also impressed. Luna was grooming herself.

Shun leaped forward, and Kokoro rushed to meet him. They met in the middle with a clang, both blocking each other's punches. Then they jumped backwards at the same time, and threw shuriken at one another. Dodging each other's shuriken, they both touched down gently on the ground. They glared at each other, vowing mentally to never back down.

An hour later, both of them lay on their backs on the ground, breathing heavily. Kokoro slowly struggled to sitting position, and glanced at Shun, one eye closed and her mouth open as she gasped for air.

"Admit defeat?" she wheezed.

"Never." Shun answered.

They both slumped back onto the ground.

Ayashi smiled and called, "It's a tie! Ryu, let's take these two to my home for lunch."

"I..can..walk." Kokoro protested as Ryu slung her over his shoulder.

"Me..too.." said Shun, beating his hands weakly against his father's back, before going limp. Kokoro also went limp, and soon, twin snores rose from the two. Luna heaved herself up and padded next to Ryu. She looked up at the sleeping figure of Kokoro, and smiled (as much as a tiger can smile) at the peaceful expression on Kokoro's face.

Ryu asked Ayashi, "Does she pass?"

"Haha! Yes, she passes. As we both know, Shun is the most powerful ninja of his age. Now, he and Kokoro are both the most powerful ninja of their age, as they are equally matched. Shun finally has a rival." Ayashi said.

Soon, they arrived at a medium sized house. Ayashi knocked, and the door was opened by a flustered looking women who was obviously Shun's mother. The grey blue eyed woman took one look at the two slumbering children, and pulled them in, scolding Ayashi furiously. "Really, Ayashi, what were you doing to make these two children so exhausted that they fall asleep, hmm? Oh, hello Ryu."

"Good morning, Mrs. Umezawa." said Ryu politely. "How are you?"

"Fine, fine. Don't I always tell you to call me Akari? Now, put that child down on the sofa and get me a blanket from the closet."

Shun woke up and stretched, yawning widely. He looked around, only just realizing where he was. 'How did I come home? Why am I in my room? And what is that delicious smell?' He sniffed tentatively, starving. He got up and heard something move next to him, muttering. He turned to look, and was surprised to find Kokoro in the bed with him. Hmph! Mother! Didn't she know that boys and girls do 'not' sleep together? Kokoro let out a loud snore, and Shun studied her carefully. Just because he was the best in his class, didn't mean he couldn't play some pranks.

He leaned over, grinning wickedly, and pinched her cheeks, and pulled, yelling in her ear, "WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD! DON'T YOU WANT LUNCH!"

"Aaah!" Kokoro yelled, startled awake. Her head flew up and banged into Shun's chin, and she looked around wildly. Hunh? How did she get in this room? Why was she in a bed? And who had made that awful noise? She looked up and found Shun rubbing his chin and muttering about something.

"Wha-" she said tentatively. She couldn't hear herself! She looked at Shun, panicking, and grabbed his head. "I can't hear anything." she said in what seemed like her usual volume. She didn't hear what she said!

She grabbed Shun's ear and yelled, "WHY CAN'T I HEAR MYSELF!"

Then her she could hear properly, and looked around, to find Ryu standing in the doorway, smirking.  
>She smelled something delicious, and , completely forgetting about Shun, wandered off to find the source of it.<p>

"Bad Karma." Ryu said to the Shun, whose ears were still ringing.

"Hm?" Shun said, not understanding.

"What goes around, comes around. You yelled in Kokoro's ear, and she yelled in yours." Ryu smirked, and left the room, eager to try some of Mrs. Umezawa's cooking.

"Hn." said Shun grumpily, hauling himself out of bed.

He walked into the kitchen to find his parents, Ryu, and Kokoro seated around the kitchen table.  
>The tiger cub was sitting on the floor, and was gulping down what seemed to be a headless rabbit.<p>

"So, did I pass?" Kokoro was asking Ayashi loudly.

"Yep, with flying colors! You and Shun fell asleep, so we put you in bed." Ayashi said, seemingly not noticing the glares Shun was directing his way.

Kokoro beamed, and shoveled food down her mouth. Shun and his parents just stared at the enormous amounts the girl consumed. Ryu was used to it. He and Gramps had almost gone broke, trying to feed her.

Kokoro suddenly jerked her head up, and said, with her mouth full, "Wemf fy cwaffef farfting?"

"What?" asked Akari.

Kokoro swallowed noisily and said, "When are my classes starting?"

Ayashi smiled, and said, "We hope to see you in class in three days!"

"Yeah!" shouted Kokoro, punching the air, and knocking over her chair the second time that morning.

'Oh, brother.' thought Shun.

**I've already got the next chapter written, Just need to proof read it and it's going to be out :D **

**Arte**


	8. New Friends and New Abilities

**OK, hope you like this new chapter!  
>PLEASE REVIEW!<br>Thank you! :)  
>Oh and if anyone needs a beta, then just inbox me or something.<br>Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters :(**

Two days later, Kokoro was walking with Luna into the forest. She had said goodbye to Ryu and Gramps an hour ago, and was a little tired.

"Are we there yet?" asked Kokoro.

"Yes." answered Luna, surprising her.

They walked into small clearing, that had a stream running through it. Sitting next to the stream was an old and very majestic looking tiger. He said, "Sit." and we sat in front of him.

"I am the Wise One. My name is not the Wise One, but you may call me that. Hello human. What is your name?"

Kokoro smiled eagerly and said, "My name is Kokoro, sir. I do not know my last name, sir, because I forgot it. Nice to meet you."

He nodded his majestic head once, and turned to Luna. "I trust you have filled Kokoro in about the basics of tiger clan?"

Luna said, "Yes, Grandfather."

"Good. Now we may begin our lesson. Today we will learn about mind touching."

Kokoro, who had been staring at Luna since she had never told her that she was the Wise One's granddaughter, started and looked at the Wise One in puzzlement.

"Mind touching?"

"Yes. Let me explain. Mindtouching is when one creature reaches out with his or her mind, to another creature's. Humans cannot do it, and many animals cannot as well. Cats have an instinct for it though, that is why we are so silent, we are used to mindtouching."

"You will be able to mind touch once I teach you, since you have tiger blood in your veins, and tiger chakra. Since you have Luna's blood in your veins, you and Luna will be able to mind touch more acutely than others. You will also be able to mind blend, but I'll teach you about that later. Luna has already began to learn about mind touching, she is the best of her class. You have no experience in this, though, so I will have to start you off from the basics. Kokoro, close your eyes and reach out with your mind toward Luna's. This should come easily to you."

Kokoro did as she was told, and groped around with her mind. She was startled to feel the minds of many other creatures, as well as Luna's. She reached out with her mind towards Luna, and thought, 'Hello? Luna?'

'Hello, Kokoro.' said Luna's mind voice. It seemed to Kokoro to be a very pretty voice. It was smooth and lovely. It sounded quiet a bit like the voice Kokoro heard when she was talking with Luna, but it was undisturbed by the meows and growls that her human ear heard from the tiger when she spoke with her.

'Don't forget, you are mind touching with me, and I can hear all your thoughts.' Luna laughed. 'Thank you. It is the same for me. Hmm. You're doing good! OK. Now open your eyes slowly, and try to maintain your connection with me.'

Kokoro opened her eyes tentatively, and managed to keep her connection with Luna! Her elation was short lived, though, when the connection broke, and Kokoro desperately worked to get it back. She got it, and was able to hold it for a few more minutes before it broke.  
>Kokoro looked, disappointed, at the Wise One, but all he did was turn around and say over his shoulder, "Practice until you meet me again, which will be in two days time. I expect for both of you by then to be able to mind touch unconsciously. Goodbye.'<br>He walked away into the trees, and soon his body was swallowed up by the shadows.

Kokoro looked up at the sun, and saw that it was high in the sky. She asked Luna, "Were we really here that long?"  
>Her stomach growled, and she laughed. "My stomach tells me, "Yes" ! Let's eat lunch and head back. By the time we arrive it will be time for dinner. Yum, yum!"<p>

After a large dinner, Kokoro told Ryu about her session. Ryu tried to mind touch with Kokoro, and Kokoro with him, but all they accomplished was to get two very large headaches. Then, Kokoro and Luna mind touched, and Kokoro talked with Luna. By the time it was time for bed, Luna and Kokoro had gotten quiet good at it, but were still not able to do it unconsciously.

The next morning, Kokoro woke up late, and was in a rush. She and Luna gobbled down their breakfasts, and set off down the path to the Academy. The day after the test, Ryu had taken her shopping again, and they had gotten some school supplies. Ryu had also taken her to the Academy and shown her where it was, so she didn't need Ryu to show her the way this morning.

Kokoro and Luna fairly flew down the road, Kokoro and Luna mind touching as they ran.

'Why didn't you wake up early Kokoro? You always wake up early, and wake me up too, when there's no need to, and today you woke up late when there 'is' need to!'

'Sorry, Luna! I guess my body didn't actually register that I was supposed to wake up early today, and was tired because of all the mind touching we did before sleeping.' Kokoro sweat dropped.

They ran even faster, and arrived at the door to the classroom door, breathless. "I'm sorry." the girl wheezed to the teacher. "I woke up late."

The teacher and the students stared at the panting girl, and tiger. There was a long silence, broken only by the sounds of Kokoro and Luna trying to catch their breath. Then, the teacher glanced at the tiger, sighed ( there had been a wolf in the class once. This was no better) and turned to the class, smiling wanly.  
>"Class, this is Kokoro and her companion, Luna. Welcome to the class. My name is Masako Obata. You may call me Masako-sensei. Take your seat next to Shun. He is the boy with-"<p>

"Oh, it's alright, I already know Shun." said Kokoro brightly, marching up to him and taking the seat next to him with Luna at her heels. "I beat him in a battle."

Several children gasped, and started talking to one another. That skinny little girl beat Shun, the prodigy?

Shun flushed angrily, and said loudly, "She did 'not' beat me! We were tied."

The murmurs rose even louder, and Kokoro wondered why they were so shocked. So what? They were an even match, what did it matter? But, she later learned that she and Shun were the strongest in the class, and that it did matter quiet a lot.  
>Masako-sensei quickly said, "Yes, yes, settle down children."<p>

Masako-sensei gazed at Kokoro for a moment, and then resumed teaching the class. Masako examined Kokoro intently during class. She decided that she was indeed at Shun's level of expertise. This new girl was quite a puzzle. She smiled, and thought exactly what Ayashi had after Kokoro and Shun's battle. 'Shun finally has a rival.'

Shun did consider her a rival, but as the day progressed, he wondered whether she really 'was' a rival. Weren't rivals supposed to compete to be the best? But, she didn't seem to want to compete. Sure, she was smart, but she was also silly and energetic, and very optimistic. If Shun was better than her, she never competed to become the best. She would always congratulate him with a big smile, like when his shuriken hit dead centre, much better than her.  
>He sighed as he thought about this, and began eating his lunch. He looked beside him where the girl was chattering eagerly to a couple of other students, and looked down at the tiger cub. Luna was looking at him, and seemed to be saying, 'Yeah she is daft. Even 'I' noticed that you consider her a rival, and are trying to beat her.'<p>

Kokoro hopped home happily. It had been very fun at the Academy. She had met a lot of people, and learned a lot of things. She mind touched with Luna and said, 'Wow, this was so fun!'

Luna looked up at Kokoro with astonishment, then mind touched with her. 'We've learned to mind touch unconsciously, we've learned to mind touch unconsciously!'

Kokoro realized that what Luna said was the truth, and they both danced all the way home, mind touching and singing, 'We've learned our lesson a day before it was due!'

They calmed down a bit as they approached the dirt path that led off the main road and went to Ryu's house. They walked up it, and soon reached the house. Kokoro opened the door of the house silently and looked around. Kokoro and Luna were quiet a bit late, and Ryu would scold them. He and Gramps did not seem to be in the house, so, Kokoro supposing that they went out, dropped her bag off in her room and walked towards the kitchen, hoping for a snack. Luna decided to stay behind, and fell asleep on the bed. Suddenly, Kokoro heard a creak from the living room, and thought, 'Oh, maybe Gramps is home.' and raced towards the living room. She heard a rushing sound from the living room as well, and then , as she was about to open the door to the living room, it opened by itself, and Kokoro crashed into a brown haired boy.

"Owww." said the both of them, rubbing their heads.

Kokoro looked at the boy and said, "You're not Gramps!" at the same time he did. They both scowled and said in unison, "Of course I'm not!" and then , "Stop copying me!"

Kokoro heard someone chuckle, and looked behind her to see Ryu standing in the doorway. "You could almost be twins."

Kokoro and the strange boy both said, "Stop it! Who 'is' this person anyway?" and stuck out their tongues at each other.

Kokoro and the boy got up at the same time, and glared at each other, and Kokoro thought, 'Why is he saying the same things I am?' and saw that the boy seemed to be annoyingly thinking the same thing.

The boy turned around in a huff, and sat down in one of the chairs in the living room. Kokoro chose to sit on the couch, and they both looked to Ryu for an explanation. He removed another chair, and sat down opposite to the two, sitting on the chair like it was a horse, his hand resting on the back of the chair.  
>"Kokoro, meet Okumaru Rinshin. Okumaru, meet Kokoro." Ryu introduced the two of them, and said to Kokoro, "Okumaru is training to be a Medical Ninja, so he comes to Gramps to learn. My guess is that, when he heard you he thought that you were Gramps, and was going to meet you. I believe he is your age as well, so he should be in your class."<p>

He then turned to Okumaru and said, "I found Kokoro and Luna near a river about a week ago, unconscious and injured. Gramps fixed her up, but because of that he told you not to come for a while. That is why you two haven't met until now. Okumaru, Kokoro has lost her memory, so me and Gramps are taking care of her. We know nothing of her family, so we have no way of finding them."  
>Okumaru looked thoughtfully at Kokoro and asked, "Who is Luna?"<p>

Ryu smiled, obviously uncomfortable, and said, "Well Okumaru, you might not like this, but, Luna is a-" at that moment Luna padded into the room, and Okumaru took one look at her and fainted dead away.

"-tiger…" he finished weakly.

Kokoro looked curiously at the unconscious boy, and asked, "Why did he faint?"

"Well…" Ryu said, "He's afraid of cats. When he was little, he was badly scratched by one, and has been afraid of them ever since."

Kokoro watched as the boy slowly regained consciousness, and walked over to him purposefully. "Okumaru," she said leaning down over him. "You needn't be afraid of Luna. She isn't a cat, she's a tiger."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better, huh." he said, and glanced at Luna. She smiled at him in a lame attempt to make him feel better, but she only succeeded in showing him her teeth and scaring him enough to go scrambling behind Kokoro, shaking in fear.  
>At that moment, Gramps walked into the room and promptly took care of Okumaru's fear of cats.<p>

He took one look at the tiger and the covering boy, and booted Luna out of the room. The sight of the indignant flying tiger was hilarious enough to make Okumaru laugh so hard that tears ran down his face. When Luna padded back into the room, fuming, he laughed all the harder. Cats didn't scare him any more. When he was done, he reached into his pocket and removed a large hunk of meat. He walked over to Luna and gave it to her. She chewed and swallowed, and then looked at the boy and said in tiger language, "It's a little chewy, but, thank you."

Kokoro smiled and said, "She says 'it's a little chewy, but, thank you.'"

Okumaru looked amazed when he realized that Kokoro had translated what Luna had said, and then shrugged mentally. Last week, when he had gone to the Leaf Village with his father, he had seen a boy in a jacket with it's hood up, talking to a little dog that was in the jacket.

He then said solemnly to Luna "Your Welcome" and stood up to study Kokoro. He did recognize her from class, but he had been up last night and hadn't had much sleep, so he hadn't thought of it much at the time.  
>Kokoro studied him just as intently, and they were silent for a while.<p>

Okumaru was tall for his age, but she was tall as well, so they were almost equal in height. He had dark, hazel eyes, and his hair was brown, alternating from an almost black brown, to a light golden brown. His clothes were normal, but he had a weapons pouch, that marked him as a ninja.

Kokoro, Okumaru noticed, was pretty, but there was a sort of sadness around her. He supposed that she had had a lot of heart break in her life, and his heart softened just a little. All in all, she seemed to be strong and able to defend herself. He supposed that the tiger was also part of her ninjutsu. He remembered when she had said that she had defeated Shun. She certainly was strong if she had been able to do that. Okumaru, done with his inspection of the girl, smiled warmly and said, "You are strong, and that makes me respect you."

Kokoro smiled back, but then the boy turned to Gramps in annoyance and said, "'Now can we start our class? I have to get home soon."

The old man said, "Yes, yes," and hustled the other two out of the room. Luna, not wanting to be booted out again, hastily ran out in front of Kokoro, and mind touched with her, 'I have never been so humiliated in my life! Imagine, me, granddaughter of the Wise One, being kicked out of the room!'

Kokoro giggled mentally, and said, 'That was funny,' earning a growl from Luna.  
>She became serious and said, 'I thought that cats have shorter lifespan than humans. If you were his granddaughter, he'd have to be quiet young.'<p>

Luna gave her a contemptuous look and thought, 'Silly, we are not normal tigers, we can live much longer than cats. We are not that much behind humans though. For us, one human year equals two tiger years. Get it?'

Kokoro thought for a moment, and then shook her head. 'Nope.'

'Sigh.'

***

After about an hour, Okumaru left. Kokoro asked him before he left whether he would like to train with her, but he declined politely, saying that he better get home or his mother would be mad.  
>Kokoro helped Gramps grind some herbs, asking their names and their uses. Soon, it was time for bed and before sleeping, Kokoro asked, "Will there be school tomorrow?"<p>

Ryu shook his head. "No. Goodnight black-eye."

"That makes it sound as if I have a black eye! Goodnight Ryu."

The next morning Kokoro woke up early ('Why' hadn't she woken up early yesterday?) and walked outside in her pajamas where a lot of noise was coming from. She stepped out of the front door and looked around. There was no one to be seen. The noise was coming from the woods, and Kokoro followed it to a small clearing. Suddenly, Kokoro noticed that Luna was following her and mind touched. 'What's that noise?'

Luna sniffed the air and thought, 'There are two people fighting. I think one is Ryu.'

Kokoro stepped into the clearing and saw Ryu and Hiro sword fighting. She saw the boys swift movements, and the block and thrust. It seemed to her as though they were dancing some intricate dance. Block, thrust, slash. Her eyes widened and her heart beat fast. She was in love.

Luna glanced up at the strangely still girl, and literally saw twin hearts in the girls eyes.

Ryu noticed Kokoro and stopped fighting. Hiro saw his gaze and sheathed his sword. Ryu noticed that Kokoro had a strange look in her eyes, and she seemed to be a little breathless. Hiro saw as well and was puzzled. Kokoro raced towards them, stopping short of Ryu and said, "Teach me!" looking excited.

"Huh?"

"I want to learn how to use a sword!"


	9. Mind Blending

**Sorry for the short chapter; Please review oh and Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

Ryu stared at the girl, momentarily shocked, and then looked at her attire. He smiled wryly, and said, "Change first, and then I'll give you a lesson."  
>Kokoro zoomed of down the path, and zoomed back, wearing her clothes.<br>"Your shirt is on backwards, your pants are inside out, and your hair is messy."  
>By the time she came back again, Ryu had found and trimmed two sturdy branches.<br>He tossed one two her, and said, "Here." Hiro and Luna sat in the sidelines, interested.  
>Kokoro learned a lot that day. She learned the basics of sword fighting, and some stances, and exercises that would make her arm stronger, and more able to wield the sword. Ryu realized that Kokoro was a natural at it, and she seemed to gobble information down like a starving mouse. That day Hiro, and Ryu both saw that Kokoro was a natural at it, and Ryu decided to teach her how to use a sword for real. At the end of the day, he sat the girl down in front of her and said, "Kokoro, would you like to learn how to wield a sword seriously?"<br>Kokoro nodded, and then said, "I want to learn. It seems fun, but I know that it will be very hard work to learn how to use it properly. I might not be able to use a sword as my usual weapon though. Is that okay?"  
>Ryu nodded and said, "Kokoro, I am the best swordsman in all of this village, and many others. I will not go easy on you. Are you willing to do this as well as your other training?"<br>Kokoro answered, "Yes!"  
>Her stomach growled, and she got up turning towards the house. "And now, for dinner." and trotted off.<br>Luna, Ryu, and Hiro sweat dropped.  
>Ryu sighed and invited Hiro over for dinner. "Sure!" said the boy, and darted into the house.<br>Kokoro go up and stretched, looking over at her clock. It was early. She could train a little, have breakfast, and then go to her second session with the Wise One. She shook Luna rudely awake, and they went out and warmed up. Then Kokoro began to train, furiously. Luna went off to hunt, and soon it was time for breakfast. Ryu was already up, and had made breakfast. Kokoro ravenously finished her breakfast, and Ryu's and Gramps' as well, and then left with Luna who had courteously eaten her meal outside, shouting a goodbye as she slammed the door shut. Ryu and Gramps looked woefully at their empty bowls, and Ryu got up, sighing, to make some more.  
>Kokoro walked through the woods, sighing and looking around her at the lush green forest filled with beauty. Mind touching with Luna (they had gotten so used to mindtouching that they hardly ever talked to each other normally any more, they just mind touched.) Kokoro thought, 'Wow, how beautiful this is. '<br>'Yeah… Wanna race?'  
>'Sure!'<br>Kokoro and Luna ran all the way to the meeting place, and Kokoro was surprised to find that she and Luna were an even match. They soon slowed down and arrived at the clearing at a walk. The Wise One was in the same place he had been before, and was dozing peacefully. Kokoro and Luna crept forward to the old tigers' ear, and took a large branch, breaking it with a loud crack next to his ear. He awoke at once, roaring and looking around for his attackers. He spotted Kokoro and Luna sitting in front of him innocently, Kokoro looking a little pale, and settled down.  
>He fixed the two of them with a stern glare and said, "Do 'not' do that. Now, have you two mastered the lesson I assigned you?"<br>They nodded and he continued. "Good. Let me tell you a little more about mind touching, and then we will move on. Mind touching is usually used by the cat species, and it is common politeness to ask another tiger for their permission before mind touching. Do not try to mind touch with another animal unless you have asked them first, or they will think you mean them harm and attack."  
>"Your next lesson is Mind blending. Mind blending is an advanced technique of mind touching, and can only be used by a tiger and human that have been subject to the jutsu, like you two have. To mind blend, you two must first mind touch, and then one of you try to convey images to one another. Soon, you both will be able to mind blend, blend your minds together, and will be able to use this in battle. It is complicated, so your homework is to practice sending images to one another over the period of the next 3 days. Then I will meet you again."<br>"For the rest of the day, though, we will be learning foreign languages."  
>"No!" groaned Luna, and Kokoro asked, "What are foreign languages?'<br>Luna answered for the old tiger. "Foreign languages are like, we'll have to learn how to speak fox, and wolf and stuff! It's really boring. We need to learn it to ask the other species whether we can mind touch with them. When we mind touch, though, the language is all the same so we can talk properly. Only a few animals know how to mind touch though, and most of them are cats, so this is no use."  
>The Wise One said, "Yes. Ok, tweet, in chickadee means 'You're a ninny' so avoid saying that."<br>When Kokoro and Luna went home that day, they collapsed into bed wearily. Ryu asked her from the doorway, "Tough day?"  
>"Tweet-twitter-tweet. Twoo, whistle. Twee." Kokoro answered.<br>"Yup, we learned foreign languages. I'm pooped. Night."  
>Ryu scratched his head and closed the door silently.<p> 


	10. Remembering

**Sorry about the delay**

**Please read and review!**

A week passed and Kokoro grew. Literally. She had grown half an inch since Ryu had found her, and was quite tall. Luna had grown as well, and both of them had been training hard the whole week. They had been able to mindblend after two days of hard work, and by then had also learned the names of all the kids in their class. It was a small class that consisted of about 12 students, including Kokoro.

Shun  
>Male<br>The leader of the village's son  
>9 years old<br>Very competitive. Until Kokoro came, he had no one to compete against.  
>Also, a genius. Apparently, Kokoro is a genius as well because she tied in a battle with him.<p>

Okumaru  
>Male<br>9 years old  
>Seems to have the same train of thought of Kokoro, as they often say things in sync, much to their annoyance. Is training under Gramps (Kokoro still hasn't learned his name, and everyone seems to call him that anyway.) to become a medical ninja. Was scared to death of cats. Is OK now.<p>

Kaisuke and Daisuke  
>Males<br>9 years old  
>Identical twins. Like playing, which twin is which? So far, Miyu is the only one able to win ( Kaisuke's smile, she says, is 2.3 percent more evil than Daisuke's, while Daisuke's is 3.7 percent more loving. When she says that, Daisuke always blushes and tries his best to look as evil as Kaisuke, who would be trying his best to blush.). Love goofing off and making jokes. Drive the teachers crazy.<p>

Miyu  
>Female<br>9 years old  
>Is shy with newbies. Opens up with people she knows. Loves teasing Kaisuke and Daisuke, though. Is the twins cousin. S the only one who knows for certain which twin is which even if their wearing identical clothing.<p>

Naomi  
>Female<br>9 years old  
>Is loud and energetic. Very tom boyish, but is the prettiest girl in the class. Looks delicate, but Ray learned the hard way that she isn't. Is now best friends with Ray.<p>

Ray  
>Male<br>9 years old  
>Picked a fight with Naomi. Got his butt kicked, and respects Naomi ever since. Loves teasing newbies. Got his butt kicked by Kokoro, and respects her as well. Hates the twins who constantly tease him about it, but still likes them as long as they don't call him 'Mr. Easily-Beat' or, 'The Guy who Likes Naomi.'<p>

Dai  
>Male<br>9 years old  
>Loves puzzles. Is very smart, and is a natural leader. Is Hikaru's friend.<p>

Hikaru  
>Male<br>9 years old  
>Is trying to become stronger to kill a 'certain someone'. Sound familiar? Has completely different personality from Sasuke though. Is very easy going. Family was killed by Deidara in front of him.<p>

Kimihiro  
>Male<br>9 years old  
>A loner. No one knows about his past, just like Kokoro, although he himself knows. Was adopted by the Shindo's. Is friends with Hikaru and Dai.<p>

Yui  
>Female<br>9 years old  
>Was the best girl fighter in the class before Kokoro came. Will not bow down to Kokoro. Unfortunately for Shun and Yui, Kokoro is irritatingly nice and doesn't know that both of them are trying to beat her<p>

Kokoro  
>Female<br>9 years old  
>Makes friends very easily, and made friends with everyone. Likes to stay around Okumaru and Shun, as they are both loners, and she is pretty much one as well, even though she has great social skills.<p>

Luna  
>Kokoro's companion. If anyone calls her a pet , she growls at him or her, and they change their mind quick. Is very talkative once you get to know her ( obviously, Kokoro is the only one human who 'can' talk to her.) Likes to be petted around the head, especially behind the ears. Loves little children as well, but tends to avoid them as they usually go for the tail.<p>

For Kokoro and Luna, mind blending had come fairly easily after a day and a half of hard work. On the third day the concentrated on being able to mind blend unconsciously. The results were great. Kokoro and Luna could mind blend and transfer images to each other, or just completely mind blend and see out of one of their eyes.

Kokoro worked hard at sword fighting every day and had taken to carrying a stick around her because Ryu would spring at her at any time. Okumaru came everyday, and they would spar a little after he was done his lessons. Shun and Kokoro also trained together, and when they got a chance Luna and Kokoro would go off into the forest and practice together, or Luna would just practice alone.

After a while, weeks, and then months, went by. One Monday, at the end of summer and 4 months after Ryu found her, Kokoro remembered.

She and Shun were at the market getting something for dinner.  
>"Why did I have to come?" Shun grumbled as he put an egg carton in his basket.<br>"Because," Kokoro answered from the bread aisle, "Your father said you would, and, I was attacked last time!"  
>"Well, you can take perfectly good care of yourself." He said, walking over to her. " You broke several of his ribs with just one kick!"<br>"I was angry. He tried to pick my pocket a when I first came here, and I left him off with a warning then. But he had the nerve to try to rob me again!" Kokoro went off to look at a man frying some fish.  
>"One fish fillet please." she ordered and turned her back to the man, still talking to Shun .<br>"I think the only reason Gramps asked you to come was so that you could control me- ow!"  
>The pan had fallen forward, and the hot oil burnt the tip of her fingers. The man who had been making the fish got up and apologized repeatedly.<br>"I'm so sorry! Quick, put your hands in the ice in the frozen foods aisle!"  
>Shun grabbed her hands and led her to the frozen foods aisle, dunking her fingers in the ice and holding it there.<br>Kokoro felt her hand go numb, and pulled away, putting it in her mouth and sucking hard. Shun grabbed her hand from her mouth saying, "Put it in the ice!"  
>"This helps!"<br>"Ice is better!"  
>Kokoro suddenly saw images flashing in her minds eye, a boy's face flitting by so fast that the only thing she could see was his lingering frown as he put somebody's fingers under a facet.. She saw a man, again not clearly, and two bodies lying on the floor, a man and a woman. A sudden grief rose within her, and she sank to the floor, trembling, tears leaking from her eyes.<p>

She couldn't see Shun yelling in alarm, and suddenly she saw a locket very clearly, a locket with her picture in it. She was smiling cheerful, and looked as she did now. Kokoro unconsciously thought, 'The picture must have been taken a little while before Ryu found me!'  
>Suddenly, the locket left her vision, and once more she saw the man, and he was standing over the boy, a knife at the boy's throat. The boy turned to look at her, and he said softly, "Kokoro!" The man killed him and Kokoro's heart twisted, and she couldn't breath, and then the part of her brain that remembered everything cried out, "Sasuke!".<p>

Then she passed out, her despair and grief overwhelming, and her mind took that last part, the part where she saw Sasuke being killed by Itachi, and stored it alongside her forgotten life with her family.

Shun and Gramps stood outside of Kokoro's room, watching as she thrashed about in the bed screaming, "No, No,, No, No!"  
>Shun stepped forward as if to comfort her, but then she slammed her fist into the wall, still yelling "NO!"<br>He watched in alarm as a large crack appeared in the wall.  
>'Never mind' he thought and stepped back.<br>"What happened?" Gramps asked  
>Shun looked down at the tiny old man, and explained.<p>

"Kokoro accidentally burnt her fingers, and we were fighting about whether she should put her fingers in the ice. She suddenly collapsed to her knees, and was staring at the floor, a horrible look on her face, and tears were pouring down here face. She fainted after a couple of seconds, and I carried her and Luna, who had fainted as well, here as fast as I could. What's wrong with her?"

Gramps said, "She most likely remembered something from her past, and it was so sad that it had that affect on her. When she regains conscious, she might have forgotten about us, or remembered everything from her past, or her brain could have made up it's own memories and made her a completely different person."

Shun looked at the girl in the room as she calmed down, soon still and silent under the bed sheets. 'Was her past really that terrible?'

Kokoro dreamed. She dreamed of Sasuke and Itachi and her whole family before the massacre.  
>In her dream, she was once more five and a half and it was winter. She had sneaked out the back door and into the woods.<br>Kokoro raced after a small rabbit that had sneaked out to look for food.

"Come here rabbit! Rabbity, rabbit! Come here!"  
>The little girl's legs worked furiously, her light weight preventing her from sinking into the snow. Her eyes were trained on the rabbit, but as she watched, it got smaller and smaller, until she could see it no more. Kokoro stopped, disappointed, and turned around to go back inside before Mum missed her and got mad.<br>As she looked around her, all she could see were trees everywhere, laden with snow.

"I'm lost!" she gasped, bringing her hands up to her mouth in horror. If anybody had seen, they would have smiled at the cute gesture and at her round eyes. But, nobody was around, and nobody had seen, for if they had, they would have taken the little girl and kept her safe, because they would have known about a snowstorm that was about to come into the area.  
>Kokoro looked around wildly, and then picked a random direction and began to walk.<br>"That's the way home." she said to herself, while all the time she was headed towards the training grounds.  
>When she stumbled into the training grounds, she looked around, and saw a boy whom she deemed to be about Sasuke's age, and walked over to him.<p>

The boy had long hair that hung in a braid down his back, and he had big bushy eyebrows. He was punching at a tree furiously, hitting it and hitting it over and over.  
>Kokoro said, "Excuse me."<br>The boy didn't seem to hear her; he was muttering to himself about showing somebody and that and the sound of his punches upon wood drowned out her little voice.

"Excuse me!" She yelled and he heard her and stopped, turning to look at her.

She was wearing a winter coat that covered her body and hid her hair and overshadowed her face, but he could see that she was cold and shivering. He himself was not cold, for his anger and his heat from his workout had warmed him, but he knew that he was too little to be wandering about in this snow, especially when there was to be a snowstorm.

"Hello." Lee (for that was who it was) bent down to look at her.

"My house is lost. It's the Uchiha house. Can you tell me where it is?"

Le frowned thoughtfully. "Hmm. I'm not sure where it is. Here, come with me."

Kokoro shook her head. "I'm not supposed to go with strangers."

"That's right! So let's be friends. My name is Lee. What's yours?"

Kokoro thought that these terms were reasonable and stuck out her hand. "Kokoro Uchiha. Nice to meet ya'."

Lee held her hand and spoke to her softly as they walked back to the village. Lee was about to ask somebody where the Uchiha Compound was, when a frantic Mikoto barreled into them.  
>"Kokoro! Where have you been? Don't sneak out like that! Ever! I'm telling Fugaku to tell the Hokage to build a fence there!"<p>

Mikoto swung Kokoro up and, still scolding her and went back home. Kokoro grinned over Mikoto's shoulder at Lee and waved.

When she woke up, she forgot her dream, but remembered the incident. She had forgotten all the faces, except for the locket.

Luna had woken up as well, and they both mind touched. Luna conveyed to Kokoro what she had overheard Gramps say to Shun, and told her that Ryu and Okumaru both had come to check up on her. Kokoro suddenly smiled, a mischievous glint in her eye. She had the perfect prank. It was way too good to pass up. Luna agreed.

**Chapter End Notes:**  
>Muwahahahaha! I hope you find the prank ( in the next chapter) funny!<p> 


	11. The Prank

Shun, Okumaru, and Ryu were all sitting in the living room, silent and grim. 'Would Kokoro remember everything? Would she-leave?'  
>Suddenly, they heard footsteps on the stairs and Soon, Kokoro hopped into the room, smiling manically. Luna came behind, looking unusually different.<p>

"Hello, you guys. Why are you so grim, eh? Et is a beautiful morning, na? We should all be smiling and happy!"

All three boys looked up at her in surprise. First of all, she was talking in English. Second of all, was that an African accent?

"Are you OK?" Shun asked so tentatively in broken English that Kokoro had to hold back a laugh.

"Yeah, course I am, Tulolope!"

Tululope?

Shun said in rapidly and in his normal language, "Tululope? Who is Tululope? It's me Shun."

"What did you say?" Kokoro asked, puzzlement etched across her face/  
>"Oh, your showing off aren't you. It's not my fault I didn't take foreign languages. Let's talk in Somalian."<p>

Before they could protest, Kokoro immediately started speaking Somalian, an African language.

"Maxad saas iga firinaysiin? Sharbo ma iso baxday?"  
>(Why are you guys staring at me like that? Did I grow a mustache or something?)<p>

All the three of them could do was stare at her in horror, even Okumaru. What did she just say? Kokoro chattered on in Somalian, oblivious to the fact that the three of them were staring at her as though she had lost her mind, (which they thought she had). Luna sat by her side, looking more African tiger like by the minute.

"Bahi aya I hayso. Cunto maheysiin? Cunto ayan jikada ku soo sameysana."  
>(I'm feeling hungry now. Do you guys have food? I'll go in the kitchen and make some.)<p>

And she did just that. The men conversed in low worried tones as she cooked.

Shun: Aaah! I don't understand a word she's saying!"  
>Ryu: "I can understand just a few words. Maxad means why. She was asking us a question in the first sentence."<br>Okumaru:…This is a problem. And we can't ask Gramps what to do since he's out."  
>At that moment, Kokoro started setting the table. They went over and stared the food. It was so different all they could do was look and look. It smelled alright,, though, and they set themselves down to a dinner of Canjeero and Odkac (Chappati and meat), rice, some sort of vegetable, and a drink called 'Masheeri' made from yoghurt.<p>

After dinner, the sat numbly back in the living room and conversed in low voices.  
>Shun: "That was good! Last time Kokoro tried to make ramen at my house she burned it so bad that my house stunk for days!"<br>Ryu: Yeah….  
>Okumaru: Mm mm.<p>

Kokoro came over and sat across them speaking so fast in Somalian, they couldn't find a single 'Maxad'.

"Majecledeen? Wa practise garaeynaye. Skol birri ma lihin? Natasha wa saxibtaydi cusub. Saxiib oh qosal badan waye. Marabtiin in aad baratiin? Aff Somali ma ku hadeeshiin?""

(Did you guys like it? I was practising. We have school tomorrow, right? Natasha is my new friend. She is very fun to play with. Would you like to meet her? Why aren't you guys talking in Somali?)

Kokoro repeated the last question in English, and they just stared at her, aghast. Their expression was so funny, Kokoro couldn't hold her laughter in any longer, and burst out laughing so hard she fell to the floor. Luna purred with amusement, and the three boys just stared at her. It slowly dawned on Okumaru that she might have been playing a joke on them and accused her, "Kokoro! That was mean, we were worried!"

She just laughed harder, tears of uncontrollable mirth pouring from her eyes. She banged her hand on the floor, and the boys sat silently until she stopped laughing. She sat up slowly,, and smiled at them weakly. "Heehee. I know you guys wouldn't pass up a chance like this either. You should have seen your faces! You were looking like this, and like this."  
>Kokoro pulled such long scared faces that the three had to laugh. Then Ryu got serious.<p>

"Kokoro, Gramps told us that you probably remembered something, that was why you acted like that."

Kokoro frowned and said thoughtfully, "I know I remembered something. A boy- but I couldn't see his face properly. Two people- I don't know what happened but when I saw them an uncontrollable grief rose up inside of me. But the most clear thing I saw was a jade locket that had my picture in it. Over all, this was no help at all for finding my family."

They all sat there, subdued. Then Okumaru asked, "How did you learn Somali?

"The wise One taught me. Actually, us. Luna knows how to speak to an African tiger." (Kokoro was lousy at keeping secrets, so she had quickly spilled to the two. Luna kept an eye on her from then on, making sure she didn't tell anyone again.)

That night Kokoro lay in bed and asked Luna, 'Did you feel it? The sadness? Is that why you fainted?'

'Yes…'

They both mind touched the same thing. 'We are more connected than we thought.'

Kokoro smiled and touched Luna between the ears, scratching hard. 'night.'

'Night. Aah, a little more to the left. Right, right, perfect.'

The next day, Kokoro and Luna went to the Wise One right after the Academy.  
>They explained what happened, and he closed his eyes then said, "You are ready." standing up suddenly. His head banged into a low hanging branch, shattering the sense of wonder and mystery. Kokoro sweat dropped, then, kindly ignoring the bump on his head, asked.<p>

"Ready?"

"To fight! There are special jutsus one can do if the jutsu has been applied to you. It is my job to teach you them, as it was my father who was one of the two who had undergone the jutsu. He taught me all he knew so that I might teach someone like you two."

"Since both of you are new at this, and have not even left the Academy yet, I will have to teach you the basics, and work upward. You will start learning serious techniques about one year before you graduate from the Academy, which will be in about three years, right?

"Yes, sir!" seemed to be the appropriate thing to say, and Kokoro said it, leaping to attention.

"Kokoro, remember, you cannot tell anyone of these jutsu, except maybe another who has undergone the jutsu. Do you and Luna vow to never tell these secrets to others?"

"Yes sir!"

Then let us start."  
>"Yes sir!'<p>

"And stop saying yes sir!"

"Yes sir!"

'Are you doing that just to annoy me?"

"Yes sir!"

"What!"

"Uhh-um, No sir!"

"Oh shush."

"Yes sir!"

"What did I just say!"


	12. Sasuke!

**Since I took so long to update; I'll make it up to you guys by giving you this chapter minutes after Chapter 11...**

**Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto... If I did, I wouldn't be here typing this and Naruto would be black :P**

Let us go back, over paths, over streams and rivers, through forests, back all the way to The Leaf Village.  
>Let's go over to the bridge and zoom in on three certain kids, one of which is Kokoro's brother, the other who is striving to be Hokage, and the last….not really having anything significant about her besides being obsessed with Sasuke…<p>

Sasuke sighed and leaned against the bridge railing. 'Kakashi sensei was late 'again'. If he was ever early everyone would be shocked. '

Sasuke glanced over at Sakura who was sitting under a tree reading a book. 'Hmph. She had been smart enough to bring something to pass the time.'  
>He narrowed his eyes, straining to read the title. At that moment, Naruto popped up behind Sakura yelling at the top of his tongue, "What're you reading Sakura! Chakra Control and You. Boring!"<p>

Sakura jumped and turned so fast Naruto barely had time to duck.  
>"Naruto!"<br>"Ow!"

Sasuke smirked as Naruto went flying into a tree.  
>Sakura settled back down and Naruto tried his best to get his head out of the hole in the tree.<br>Sasuke closed his eyes and leaned back again, reaching into his weapons pouch.

His hand touched something smooth, and he grasped it in his hand, feeling it in his hand.  
>Sorrow rose within him, but he pushed it back. He pulled his hand back out and opened his eyes.<br>Sakura was reading and Naruto's head was still stuck in the tree.

Bringing his hand near his head, he opened it. In his hand was the jade pendant Kokoro had given him before-…  
>Carefully, Sasuke brought his hand over to open it. There was a small click, and Sasuke was able to see Kokoro's face for a split second before disaster struck.<br>Naruto's head popped over Sasuke's shoulder and he yelled, "What's that Sasuke?"  
>Sasuke, being caught of guard and in a vulnerable moment lurched forward, the necklace thrown out of his hand. It turned over and over in the air, going over the side of the railing and, just before it was about to plop into the water, Sasuke caught a small glimpse of her smiling face, and yelled, "No!" .<p>

A hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the necklace before it fell in, and Sasuke let out a quick small sigh.  
>He looked up ( he was on the floor with Naruto top of him) at Kakashi-sensei. He was standing on the water, holding the necklace calmly by it's chain. Sasuke stood straight up ( Naruto tumbled off and hit his head- serves him right) and held his hand out for the necklace. Kakashi-sensei jumped up and dropped it into his hand without a comment, some emotion Sasuke could not discern passing through his eyes.<p>

Sakura came rushing over and punched Naruto (ow), then she asked in a sickly sweet voice, "Oh Sasuke, are you OK?" with hearts in her eyes. *sigh* ( she gets better after the Chunin Exams).

Sasuke slipped the necklace quietly into his pouch again and said, "Hn."

Kakashi-sensei said, "Now that al the drama's over, I'll relay the mission detail's to you." Naruto sat up, a big and rather sore looking bump on his head.

"You have to take care of a sick woman's children. They're at this address." He handed a slip of paper to Sakura.

"You?" asked Naruto, immediately suspicious.

"I'm not good with kids. See you in three days, here. Bye!" said Kakashi, making a quick escape.

Naruto groaned.  
>Sakura sighed, and looked at the paper in her hand. "It's near my house. Let's go."<p>

***

The three stopped in front of a small, old looking cottage. It was a one story house, and was crawling with children. Toys littered the front yard, and kids ran all over the place, yelling, and shouting, and generally making anyone who passed by deaf.

Sakura tried to wade through the sea of toys to the door, and promptly tripped, landing on her hands, and doing a handstand. Immediately, the little children surrounded her and she was stuck, as they started playing, "Who can make the girl fall down".

Sakura shouted, "Help!" a few times, but as she saw that Naruto and Sasuke had no way of helping her, she flipped over the heads of the children and landed neatly on her feet on the other side of the circle.

The kids immediately forgot about her and started running about once more.  
>Sakura sweat dropped.<p>

Naruto and Sasuke mad there way over to the door. On the way, a little girl crashed into Sasuke, who fell over with her on top. Sasuke closed his eyes, and tried counting to three. Toys poked uncomfortably into his back and he winced when the child sat up right on top of him.  
>Sasuke heard Naruto shout, "Hey, a little Sasuke!" and felt the little girl being lifted of her. He opened his eyes and sat up, looking up at Naruto who held the little girl and was making funny faces at her.<br>Then, his eyes caught hold of the little girl, and his heart stopped. Kokoro? He thought, but the girl looked at him and his heart started up again. She looked exactly like Kokoro, but she wasn't. She was too young.

Disappointment flashed across his face, but then he stood up and his usual blank expression was back on.  
>Why was he remembering Kokoro so much? He had taught himself to ignore his sorrow, but it had just been 4 months. His pain was still fresh, even though it seemed like a long time.<p>

Sakura knocked on the door, and the other two came over. Naruto was still holding the little girl.  
>Nobody opened the door, so Sakura gently tried the handle. It was unlocked. Naruto put the little girl down, and they went inside, Sakura shouting, "Hello?"<p>

On the right of the doorway was the kitchen, and on the left a small bathroom. As they went further in, they went through a small living room, a nursery/children's room, and another room. Sakura knocked on the door before going in. A thin, sickly woman was lying in the bed, and she coughed hoarsely.  
>Sakura wondered how she was able to go all the way to the mission hall to ask for this mission, she looked so weak.<p>

The woman was young and pretty, maybe in her early thirties. She had light brown hair and dark black eyes, with dark black bags underneath them.  
>She sat up in he bed, and coughed. Sakura gently pushed her back down, and said, "Hi. We're here to take care of your children. Is there anything you would like?"<p>

The woman smiled at Sakura and said, "No thank you. Your job is to take care of the children. The doctor will take care of me. He'll be coming shortly. "

She broke into a sudden bout of coughs, and Naruto, who was unusually quiet, handed her a glass of water (from who knows where) and she gulped it down gratefully. All the while, Sasuke stayed out of the way in the shadows.

The lady continued. "I have six children. Their father is at work."  
>She took a deep breath before continuing.<br>"The triplets are three, Etsu the girl, she's very cute, Fujita, the most active boy, and Akiyama, the shy boy. They all look alike, brown eyes, brown hair, except Etsu, who has longer hair than the boys. Also, Fujita has a small streak of black in his hair."

"Botan is four, he has blond hair, after his father, and golden brown eyes. He hates carrots, but loves broccoli. Ami, her name means friend and she's the friendliest, is five, she has red hair and blue eyes."

"And last of all is Aiko, our first child. She's six and she has black hair and black eyes. She can be shy when you first meet her, but if she likes you, she will attach herself to you like glue."

"Since there are three of you, I thought that maybe each of you could take two? Here."

She handed a piece of paper to Sakura, and another to Naruto, and beckoned Sasuke forward and gave him one too.

"I wrote on these pieces of paper of two of my children, their likes and dislikes, and all you need to know to take care of them."

She then settled back and smiled at them. "Oh and ,my name is Akino. What about you?"

Naruto (of course, he can't stay still for long, can he?) stepped forward and said, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, an I'm going to be the Hokage, believe it! And this is Sakura Haruno, and the jerk is Sasuke Uchiha."

The 'jerk' twitched, but let it slide.

"Hmm, I'll be glad to have my children taken care of by the future Hokage! Please take good care of them!"

"I'll do my best!"  
>The three trooped out, and glanced at their papers.<p>

Sakura said. "I have Etsu and Botan."

Naruto said. " Umm, I have Fujita and Ami! Cool!"

Sasuke looked up as the stared questioningly at him, Sakura leaning in more than necessary, and answered, "I get the last two, Aiko and Akiyama."

Naruto shouted, "Let's get them!"

Sakura clubbed him on the head and said, "Naruto, you idiot, Akino is supposed to be asleep!"

Sasuke got up without a word and set off to find his two charges.  
>The two followed a moment later.<p>

The first one they ran into was a little girl with brown hair and brown eyes.  
>Sakura kneeled down in front of her, but as she did so a little boy hurtled into her.<p>

"Etsu, intruders, attack!"

"Yes Botan! I'll call the others! Fujita! Aiko! Intruders! Get the others!"

Sakura said, "No, I'm here to-! Ow! Etsu!"

The other four came trotting up and 'attacked' Naruto and Sasuke.  
>Sasuke pried Ami of him, and put her gently on the ground next to the wall, saying, "You have been captured. You must stay here."<p>

Sakura caught on and cooed, "Oh Sasuke , you are 'so'-ow!- smart!"

She caught hold of Etsu around her waist, and picked her up, saying, "I have captured you. You must stay still."

Naruto had caught two of the kids by their shirt backs, and put them near the wall saying pretty much the same thing the other two had.

Soon, all of them had 'captured' the kids, and the three kneeled down in front of them.

Naruto said, "Hey guys, we are not your enemies. We are your -uh- bodygaurds! We're supposed to protect you from bad guys!"

One of the triplets yelled, "Prove it!" Fujita, I believe.

Naruto thought for a moment, then turned around , pointing to a small knot on a tree.

"See that?"

"Yeah?"

Naruto turned around to grin at the kids, and then twisted around and threw a kunai knife at the knot. It hit right in the middle. Naruto turned (smugly) back to the kids, and winked at them.  
>Sasuke and Sakura sweat dropped as the kids jumped on him, yelling enthusiastically.<br>"Show more, show more!"

Sakura decided to expand on Naruto's idea, and yelled in a panicky voice, "Everyone, sit near the wall, there's an assassin nearby!"

That caught the kids attention, and they all ran over to the wall and immediately plopped down.  
>Sakura smiled. "There, you have to sit there until I tell you it's safe to move around. Ok, Etsu, Botan, raise your hand."<p>

Two small hands appeared in the air.

"Okay you two, come here and sit down next to me. I'm your bodyguard."  
>"Now, Akiyama and Aiko, go sit next to Sasuke."<p>

The black haired girl and the brown haired boy went to sit beside Sasuke. Sasuke sighed.  
>He was probably the only one with little sibling experience, even though Naruto and Sakura didn't know that, but babysitting? These missions were getting duller by the day.<p>

"So, the two remaining are Fujita and Ami. Your bodyguard is Naruto."

"Yippee!" the two yelled and jumped on Naruto. "Teach us to throw knifes!'

Naruto looked at Sakura pleadingly, and she sighed, and said, "Okay, let's make cardboard shurikan. Aiko," she turned to Sasuke's charge, "can you go get some cardboard?"

The little girl, who Sasuke had noticed was the meekest of the group, nodded quietly and went off to get some. In a little while she came back, her arms laden with cardboard.  
>Sasuke helped by taking her load, and removed a kunai knife.<br>Naruto and Sakura did too, and soon there were 30 shurikan, five for each.

Naruto and Sakura taught their charges how to hold and throw their shurikan.

Sasuke stood awkwardly to the side with Aiko and Akiyama.  
>Then he knelt down in front of the two and picked up a shurikan.<br>He gave one to Akiyama and said, "Here. Try throwing this. You too Aiko."

Soon it was lunch time, and, while the kids where throwing their kunai at a tree, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke met up.

Sakura looked flirtatiously at Sasuke and said, "Sasuke, you were sooo awesome, teaching those kids so well."

Sasuke ignored her, and consulted his paper. "It seems that each of them have different tastes. Aiko likes to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and Akiyame prefers peanut butter and nutella."

"Etsu and Botan both like strawberry jam sandwiches, but Botan likes -eew- broccilli in his, and Fujita likes-" here Sakura snatched Naruto's paper from his hand and checked. "- nutella sandwiches and Ami likes nutella too, but she likes hers in small squares with toothpicks through the middle. I guess that means sandwiches for everybody. Sasuke, let's go prepare them together, Naruto, you stay here and watch the kids."

Naruto yelled, "what?'

Sasuke said , "I'll watch the kids."

Naruto cheered, and Sakura looked disappointed.

They went into the kitchen, and Sasuke studied the kids.

Aiko was the one who caught his eye the most. She looked so much like Kokoro it was astonishing, and it made his heart ache. It made him long to hold Kokoro again.  
>He had never shied away from hugging or kissing (on the forehead, and even that was very rare, only when he thought she needed comforting)Kokoro.<p>

Sasuke and Kokoro had had the same kind of relationship two siblings who were 4-6 years apart might have. Kokoro seemed so much more little; that it seemed natural to act like that. Maybe it was because Kokoro always acted so young while Sasuke had always prided himself on acting much more mature.

Sasuke started out of his thoughts as a small body hurtled into him.  
>Aiko grinned up at Sasuke and said sweetly, "Sorry Sasuke Onii-chan."<p>

Sasuke showed to Aiko a side he had only ever revealed to Kokoro. He smiled a genuine smile at her, and picked her up, gently brushing her off.  
>"It's alright Aiko."<p>

After she went off to play with her brothers and sisters again, Sasuke sighed. Why was he remembering Kokoro so much? She was dead. That was the cold hard truth.

The next couple of days passed quickly. Sasuke was reminded of Kokoro every time he was around Aiko, and his heart ached every night as he went to bed. He knew Naruto and Sakura never knew of his heart-ache, because he tried extra hard to conceal it and had overheard Naruto mutter to Sakura, "Why is Sasuke so cranky all the time?"

On the afternoon of the last day, they said their goodbyes to the children and set of for the place where they received their missions to meet Kakashi-sensei (the traitor!).

Sasuke took one last look behind him at the small house and knew he would never go back. Aiko reminded him too much of Kokoro. His eyes narrowed as his thoughts were filled with revenge. He would kill Itachi! Murder him! Pound him to dust! Make him feel pain and agony!

Naruto looked at Sasuke, about to make a smart remark, but stepped back at the fury in Sasuke's eyes and gulped. He did 'not' want to mess with him when he was in this kind of mood.

Soon, they were inside the mission-taking-place, and had collected their money. Then, they waited for Kakashi sensei for an hour by the door.

When he finally came, he said, "I got lost on the way here."

Sweatdrops all around even the ninja giving out the missions.

Kakashi sensei strolled over to the ninja giving out missions and took a piece of paper from them. He read out to the three their future missions.  
>"Next weeks missions: Clearing all the houses on Hyuuga compounds' lawns of weed and rubbish, picking fruit, getting groceries, etc. And at the end of the list, finding some woman's poor lost kitty! That's in three weeks. Doesn't that all sound invigorating?"<p>

Naruto twitched. Sakura twitched. Then they started chewing Kakashi out.

"Kakashi sensei!"


End file.
